Last week, district magistrate of Ghaziabad, Ritu Maheshwari, had approved the request for setting up of a fire station in Crossings Republik.
The residents have been demanding a fire station at Crossings Republik in Ghaziabad for the last three years. Now, their hopes got dashed when municipal commissioner Chandra Prakash Singh objected the usage of land notified for the setting up of a fire station.
Last week, district magistrate of Ghaziabad, Ritu Maheshwari, had approved the request for setting up of a fire station in Crossings Republik. She had forwarded it to municipal commissioner asking his approval or objection in this matter.
The letter in which the request was forwarded mentioned that the land notified for the fire station is the property of the municipal corporation. Hence, his consent was required.
The commissioner told City Spidey that corporation doesn’t have enough land to give it to the fire station. He also added that it is the builder’s responsibility to provide the land for such facilities.
However, he chose not to respond when asked whether he has stated the same in reply to the DM.
In the last three years, the residents, with the backing of FedAOA, have been demanding a fire station. The residents have been demanding a fire station since the builder, Crossings Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (CIPL), failed to procure land for the fire station which they had shown in their Detail Project Report (DPR).
Chief architect town planner, Ishtiaq Ahmed, said that a fire station was proposed in the DPR of the 360-acre township, but somehow the builder/officials failed to procure the land.
CIPL’s maintenance manager, Ishwar Tyagi, said that the backing out of some farmers whose lands were to be used for setting up fire station affected the prospect of the fire station.
After the failure of CIPL, FedAOA requested GDA to procure land for the station.
The SDM, Vivek Kumar Mishra, after the inspection, made a report in which he notified a barren land in Dundahera village which is adjacent to the area as suitable for setting up of the fire station. The land happens to be municipal property to which DM sought corporation’s concurrence.
After the commissioner’s denial to provide land, lakhs of resident’s lives are under risk.
FedAOA President Alok Kumar, who led the campaign, disappointedly said, “Fire station is a basic necessity for a township. The administration is putting lakhs of lives in danger by not setting up the fire station.”
The Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Sunil Kumar Singh, agreed to the fact that the fire station should be set up in the area as the nearest station is quite far from the township. “The nearest fire station at Kotwali is around 7-8 kilometres far from the Crossings Republik,” he said.
CFO also said that the road from Kotwali to Crossings Republik has slow traffic movement most of the time. He said that it will take a lot of time for the fire brigade to come from Kotwali to Crossings Republik.
Moreover, the lack of coordination between the authorities is a big cause of concern.
Sanjay Jha, a member of FedAOA, said that the delay in setting up of the fire station is not a good news for the residents. "We are under great risk. In case of a fire, it will be tough to control the situation immediately,” he said.
