Another fire breakout in a School in Faridabad - Do we care?

Two children, including the owner of the school, died due to a fire in a private school in Faridabad. If the school did not have holidays, then the accident could take a terrible turn. Creepy incidents of fire breakouts are a matter of concern in day-to-day events. Last year, 22 students died in Surat fire. Likewise, in the 1990s, remembering the ignominy in Dabwali, the relatives of the dead still cry. There are similar causes in all the above-mentioned events, which require churning. First of all, the construction of buildings is illegal, in which the fire preventive arrangements are ignored. Secondly, whatever the accessories used, including PVC as an interior, are very flammable, causing the fire to spread very quickly and large.

Buildings do not often have fire extinguishers either; even the fire brigades don’t come with all the accessories. Incidents of a fire occurring in the industrial city of Ludhiana is rising. Every other day, you will come across a fire breakout and locals helping douse the fire. On most occasions, Dera Sacha Sauda’s Green S welfare force wing volunteers reach the spot and extinguish the fire. Thanks to Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan, for setting up this disaster management force, with complete training, that comes in handy in such events. But nevertheless, our Governments seem to not mind the loss of lives, incident after incident. Last year, the Punjab government had announced to pass the new Fire Safety Act after the death of fire workers, but neither did anyone remember the act nor fire arrangement for fire personnel could be arranged according to the announcement.

A Nation of 125 crores has no value for lives?

We feel proud of our Nation’s achievements in handling space programs and India taking the 4th spot at par with bigwigs of the world. But do we really hang our neck in shame when incidents as Surat fire, or hospitals having a lack of proper infrastructure in Bihar, take lives of our future citizens? On one hand, we are turning into a superpower, but on the other hand, people are dying for petty reasons. Better preparedness in the wake of emergencies has never been our priority. Why is the lack of apathy towards lives? Every incident leads to another, yet we hardly learn from the same. Another round of blame game and the episode is over.

Blame-game solution for every problem

This blame game makes us free of our responsibility? It’s high time, people in charge are made responsible for their actions and held accountable. In fact, what is shocking is our religious organisations are better prepared in crisis management than the so-called schools, or hospitals, both Govt. which runs or public funds, or private which are just minting money. Religious organisations like ashrams, Deras, see huge gatherings on various occasions, yet their management is exemplary. For e.g. Dera Sacha Sauda sees an influx of 2 -3 Crore followers on Bhandara, yet even a needle is not hurt to anyone. Such is the management of these institutions. What is the difference in their working? They hold people accountable for every duty delegated. In fact, their passion to makes them doubly charged and thoroughly into their job. Whereas our officers have no such binding.

Rules flouted rampantly

Rules are not being followed due to corruption or negligence. The second reason is that the fire department is also not prepared. In the incident of Faridabad, the firefighting department's car even got delayed; despite this, the governments are not taking any lessons. The incident of Surat had shaken the whole country, which should make the government aware, including school managers, guardians. Indeed, the accidents are not being taken seriously in any state. After a tragic event, there is a stir for two days and later all forget. Incidents happen, government and private institutions will have to be serious in this case. What is ironic is that our priorities are not right when it comes to valuing lives. That is the reason Saint like Baba Ram Rahim Ji are pained to see the apathy that his children are going through. As he says, God’s children are children of Saints, and they can feel the pain of every person going through a tough patch. And probably the reason, why this Saint, had instituted a disaster management force almost 2 decades ago, to tackle situations as these.