No funds, fire station project hangs fire

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 13

The construction of a new fire substation at ITI Chowk has been hanging fire due to paucity of funds. The Fire Department had taken over 650 sq yd of land and Rs 80 lakh was the estimated cost of the project.

A boundary wall had been constructed, but the building has not come up as the department awaits release of funds by the state government.

The demand for the fire station was made by industrialists as numerous industrial units were located at Industrial Growth Centre, ITI industrial area and the industrial area on Dabwali Road.

Raman Watts of the Bathinda Chambers of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) said despite the approval, the fire sub-station has not been constructed so far. “We have been asking for a fire station at ITI Chowk from a long time. The Fire Department is ill-equipped to handle mishaps in crowded markets and residential areas.”

It is pertinent to mention that in 2011, industrialists had met the then Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and had urged him to set up the fire station. The Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB) had prepared a proposal and sent it to the Industry Department for seeking a no-objection certificate (NOC) as the land belonged to the department.

In 2016, the MCB received the NOC, but nothing has happened on the ground due to lack of funds.

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