Civic body's Disaster Management Cell bought additional 805 items; fire brigade officials claim they were not kept in the loop about purchases
Requesting anonymity, a fire brigade official said, “We already have 127 delivery hose pipes (DHP), but the Disaster Management Cell (DMC) unnecessarily purchased another 400. They did it without consulting us. In all, there are 20 such items gathering dust in the storeroom and lying in the open at the fire brigade headquarters in Ghorpade Peth. While some of the unwanted DHPs were purchased last, some were purchased this year.” u00a0A source in the fire brigade said officials from the DMC do not consult any of the fire brigade officials before floating tenders for purchasing DM equipment.u00a0
“The valuable equipments is just lying around and hasn’t been used for the last two months. The purchase was a total waste of money is going a total waste. The equipment was purchased in the wake of fire incident at Mantralaya,” said source.u00a0When the correspondent visited fire brigade headquarters in Ghorpade Peth, he witnessed that the equipment was kept in the open and had gathered dust. Some of the equipment spotted were: iron pumps, portable hydrologic diamond chain saws, water mist foam guns and double delivery high pressure pumps.
The Other Side
Refuting allegations, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Disaster Management) Pravin Ashtikar said, “It is wrong to say the equipment has become a white elephant. I think all those who levelled allegations against us have no technical knowledge for any of the equipment. We might need any of it at any point of time. To avoid duplication, we have now stopped purchasing new equipment.”
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