Panipat MC dismisses 23 firemen for fleeing duty

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, May 9

Municipal Commissioner Shiv Prasad Sharma on Wednesday sacked 23 firemen, including three drivers, on the grounds of irresponsible behaviour during duty.

All 23 employees reportedly turned away from the spot, leaving their fire tenders behind, after fire broke out in a cloth godown on the Barsat road in Panipat on Tuesday.

A major blaze engulfed the waste cloth godown of Dev Tex India near the National Highway-1 around 2 pm. Officials of the Municipal Corporation sent fire tenders to the spot to douse the flames.

Fire tenders from the NFL, IOCL refinery, thermal plant, Samalkha and Gharaunda also reached the spot. The fire was eventually brought under control around 1.30 am on Wednesday.

Sources said the 23 firemen and drivers went away from the spot around 5 pm on Tuesday without extinguishing the fire, leaving their fire tenders on the spot.

Taking note of the reported irresponsible behaviour of these officials, Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria ordered that they be removed from duty.

Following receipt of the order, Sharma dismissed them. “It is an essential duty which requires fidelity because human life and property loss is involved,” he said.

The 23 employees went away reportedly to take part in a strike, he stated. All these employees had been working on contractual basis, he added.

They were identified as Deepak, Lakhmichand, Vinod Sharma, Jagdish, Sanjeev, Sukrampal, Sunil-1, Rajbeer, Surjeet Singh, Rahul Rana, Randeep, Bijender Nimbri, Sunil Atta, Pravesh, Mukesh Sharma, Azaad Rawal, Sandeep Malik, Surender, Balraj, Jagbeer, Salender, Vikas and Rajender.