Chandigarh MC moots tenfold hike in fee for standby fire tender service

The cash-strapped Municipal Corporation (MC) has proposed a tenfold increase in charges for providing standby fire tender service at private functions. The agenda in this regard will be tabled at the general house meeting scheduled for June 3.

The MC has also proposed to forfeit fire safety certificate charges of the owners/occupiers of buildings who do not complete the required formalities within a period of six months.

The proposal says fire vehicles are stationed at the venues of private functions such as mega exhibitions, live shows/programmes/events, fairs, matches, social and religious ceremonies on the request of the organisers on standby duty. At present, the MC fire wing charges Rs 579 per hour/per fire vehicles for this service within Chandigarh, and from Rs 2,205 to Rs 3,308 per hour/per vehicle for deploying these outside the city. Now, it has been proposed that the charges be increased from Rs 579 per hour/per vehicle to Rs 5,000 for five hours only, subject to a minimum of Rs 25,000 fee along with GST as applicable from time to time for “high value” programmes, and Rs 3,000 per hours/per vehicle for other functions in the city.

For providing this service outside Chandigarh, the proposed rates are Rs 7,500 per hours/per fire vehicle for five hours only, subject to a minimum of Rs 37,500 along with GST.

It has also been proposed that the charges be increased by 10% every year with effect from April 1.

The proposal says the hike in charges is necessary as the rates of petrol and diesel have been increasing day by day and also, the salary of the fire staff has to be revised from time to time, after the implementation of the 7th CPC in the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh.

Fire officers and other staff are deployed along with tenders on standby duty on the request of organisers or firm owners/distributors as per their requirement.

One fire tender costs from Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore. These vehicles, along with advanced equipment and staff, are put on standby duty at mega events. The rates of the standby service need to be increased as per the requirement of event organisers, says the proposal.

With regard to the proposal to forfeit fire safety certificate charges, the MC says it has been observed that after applying for the certificate, numerous applicants never pursue their cases despite being duly informed about the need for removing the shortcomings, thus compromising fire safety in the buildings.

In order to address this issue, it is proposed that a period of six months may be fixed for application validity for completing the required installations and obtaining the fire safety certificate. Failure to do so will result in automatic cancellation of the application and fee forfeiture. Thereafter, the owner or occupier will have to submit a fresh application along with the prescribed fee. However, the new measures will be undertaken after upgrading the online portal and issuing a public notification.