Fire Drill Fiasco

The recent incident in Bengaluru, in which a 25-year old woman, who lost her life in a mishap after having enthusiastically volunteered to participate in the mock fire drill organized by the local Fire Officer, shocked us! After watching the video-clip on a national television news channel, I tweeted thus:

@gopinathmm (me):
“ The B'luru Fire chief owes the people of India an explanation on the mock fire drill tragedy! Stupid execution, really - no net?”
@dhanyarajendran tweeted:
“Nalini lost her life for no reason! An eager citizen who wnted to participate in a mock drill! Who d hell were d firemen? Punish them

Many reacted strongly, demanding that the errant fire officer responsible for the accidental death of an eager citizen be sacked and some others said that it was a shameful incident for the Fire fighting squad in the city. Some even surmised that the rope that snapped may have been of lower quality due to the corrupt practices prevalent in public life.

Several questions come to mind in this regard:
1. Do even advanced countries have such fire drills in which an untrained volunteer is asked to descend to the ground from a higher floor using just a rope?
2. Would not such dangerous moves be demonstrated by Fire Brigade trained personnel first before asking volunteers to do it?
3. Has such an exercise been carried out before by any fire brigade in Bengaluru or any other city, successfully?
4. Wouldn’t the Fire Brigade use a rope ladder to descend in such a situation?
5. Wouldn’t there be a safety net in position below, in case the person slips during the mock drill?
6. Wouldn’t there be a written procedure and checklist to ensure that the rope is fastened properly to something firm (how firm is it?)-
7. What load the rope can carry/hold? Is the rope of adequate strength for the purpose?
8. Would it not have been better carried out from the first floor- rather than a higher floor? After all it was only a mock drill!

There might be more! I am sure these points will come up in the investigation that the Fire Chief at the helm of affairs would look into and set things in order.

The Fire Brigade personnel and officers are the real heroes in our society and have saved the lives of several citizens from imminent death in life-threatening situations, by risking their own lives. The kind of risks that the fire-fighting personnel face are un-imaginable and we owe it to them that they be equipped with proper fire-fighting gears that function when calamity comes calling! It is imperative therefore, that the best quality material is purchased without compromising standards

Needless to say, Corrupt practices compromising on quality are intolerable!

While mock drills are certainly needed, the manner in which they are conducted ought to be a well-thought out process, in which the demonstrators are well-trained in fire-fighting, evacuation skills before they are put on display before the general public! Personnel, that are well-trained to cope with emergecies, in offices, hospitals, malls, auditoriums and several such public places, are indeed the need of the hour. The AMRI hospital fire would have been better handled by their staff, had they been trained how to handle an evacuation by fire brigade officials.

More important is the aspect of prevention! How many public places are audited for safety? How many pass muster? Why don’t we make it mandatory for all public places to prominently display the latest safety audit reports/ratings for public information? Reports and ratings given honestly, of course! So that we know how safe we are when we enter them?

Would we be asking for too much?

Cronyism and Pseudo-Democracy

Although it has been several decades since kings ruled our people, feudalism is prevalent in many parts of our society, albeit disguised as democracies. Some people think that feudalism is a trait that cannot be removed from the deep-rooted mindset of the masses in a span of just 2 or 3 generations. Education, which apparently seemed to be the only remedy to change our thinking, failed to do the trick too. Educated people are not necessarily adept at ‘thinking through’ current developments in today's times. Not surprising at all! Education never taught us to think, decide, be prudent with money matters or deal with bullies in every walk of life – all of which is so essential to live a reasonably comfortable life. Dynasties and Rajas will continue to rule us eternally.

In the recent 2G telecom plunder episode, dynasties and Rajas could take a billion people for a royal ride. Rulers of the states of our country are grooming their sons (daughters, nephews, etc) to take over the reins by joining politics and getting ‘democratically elected’, so that the license to plunder remains within their clan for several generations to come. Gullible voters don’t seem to mind this one bit! If the father was a great leader, so would his progeny, they all seem to think. With the costs of contesting elections being ridiculously high, who can afford to field one’s son, except, of course the well-heeled - and a politician himself? With such entry barriers to keep well-intentioned reformers out of the election fray, this whole exercise of spending money on election campaigning has ensured that elected members will work to get adequate ‘returns’ on their ‘investments’.

Promises are quickly forgotten and one gets down to serious business! It is payback time, folks, and the cookie jars are all stocked up for the privileged few who can dig into them. “Cookie jars?”, you may ask. The average ‘educated’ man has not learnt to spot a ‘cookie jar’ in his school or college. Mines, land, special economic zones, spectrum, projects, mega-events, licences – there are plenty of them for the asking. Ambitious Corporate houses, who are the major funding bodies at the time of elections too only too impatient to get manifold ‘returns’ on their investment. Payback time, they tell the parties supported by them, as returns come in the form of government sops handed out to their industries and businesses – larger profits mean higher bonuses, don’t they? It is a Wink-Wink situation!

And what does the average man on the street get? Promises, some Crony Capitalism, a Crony Government, a Pseudo-Democracy, great excitement due to heightened uncertainty – and, of course, a large bill (read: higher taxes) for the excesses committed by the elected and the venturesome! The educated get newspaper editorials, some interesting television debates that appeal to their intellect – that’s about it. A heavy price to pay (read: taxes) for some cheap thrills. With the SC cancelling 2G licences, the Government is certain to raise money through auctions. Good for us, but the common man would like to know how and when will the looted moneys from several scams be recovered from the perpetrators? No wonder, the world is simmering with anger! But those at the cookie jars have gotten too deep inside it, to be able to listen to the din outside.

Just a pseudo-post by a pseudo-blogger hoping to pseudo-tickle the readers, for a change!