New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) To ease increasing workload and to strengthen manpower, the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) plans to hire 11 retired fire officers for regular inspections at Covid-designated hospitals, besides engaging them for administrative and legal works of the department among other activities, fire officials said on Tuesday.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal also approved the proposal submitted by the fire department which is all set to hire its retired officers, below the age of 65, as consultants on contract basis through walk-in interviews which will commence from February 21, they said.

Also Read | Cyber Crime in Noida: Retired ITBP Officer Duped of Rs 3 Lakh.

This development comes after the department issued an order recently stating that it proposes to avail the services of 11 retired fire officers of the DFS, not below the rank of station officer.

According to the DFS, the recruitment is being done to overcome shortage of staff and to strengthen the department which currently has multi-fold activities to handle, be it inspections, administrative or legal work.

Also Read | Samsung Galaxy S22 & Galaxy S22 Ultra India Prices Tipped Online: Report.

The fire officials said that these officers, however, will not engage in any kind of fire-fighting operations.

When asked about the development, DFS Director Atul Garg told PTI that they have already got the LG's approval to avail the services of 11 retired officers, who belonged to the DFS and were below the age of 65 years. They will join as fire officers but will not be engaged in any fire-fighting operations, he said.

"This will also help the fire department as the service of the retired officers will be availed in administrative and legal work, besides conducting inspections. They will provide a helping hand to our current staff and ease their burden," Garg said.

The senior fire official said the department's work has increased manifold in the last few years and the present staff is already engaged in fight-fighting duties among other work. Building inspections for fire safety clearances have increased as the number of such buildings in Delhi is going up, he said.

Recalling fire tragedies in Covid-designated hospitals in Rajkot in 2020, in Baruch and Ahmedabad in 2021, in which several patients were killed, another senior officer said the Supreme Court had directed that Covid-designated hospitals in all states and union territories should be inspected regularly once in a month to check their fire safety system and take necessary action accordingly.

"We have been given an additional responsibility to inspect these hospitals. Already with increasing workload we have manpower shortage, so a decision was taken to recruit 11 retired officers as consultants on contract basis. They will be engaged in carrying out regular inspections in such hospitals in all 11 districts, besides being involved in other essential administrative and legal work among other activities," the officer added.

Soon after the tragedy at the Rajkot hospital, the top court had directed all the states to constitute a committee in each district to conduct fire audit of COVID-19 hospitals at least once a month, inform the management of the medical establishment about any deficiency and report to the government for taking follow-up action.

According to the DFS order, the period of engagement of the consultants will be one year, the maximum age limit and remuneration will be last pay minus basic pension plus DA according to the office memorandum issued by the Government of NCT of Delhi.

Interested officials can join the walk-in interview at the Delhi Fire Service Headquarters, Connaught Place, which will be conducted on all working days for a period of two weeks commencing from February 21 from 3.30 pm to 5 pm, said the order.

The fire department said it has already started emailing and contacting its retired officers, urging them to join in case they are interested. A broadcast message has also been sent through the Fire Control Room.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)