Improving the fire and emergency services in Punjab, Local government minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday flagged off 11 fire vehicles. During his interaction with the mediapersons at Punjab Municipal Bhawan, the minister said the state government under the leadership of chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh nurtures a vision to put the state on track in terms of holistic development across all sectors.

Sidhu was accompanied by Education minister Aruna Chaudhary and Forest-cum-Wildlife preservation minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot during the flagging off 11 fire vehicles. Disclosing more, the minister said that as per his promise made to Sunam legislator Aman Arora in the state Assembly, he flagged off the first vehicle to Sunam-the land of Shaheed Udham Singh. He also made it clear that the state government is committed to the full scale progress of Punjab on all parameters without any bias towards any section.

Putting the 'Fire Services and Ambulances' in the category of essential services, the minister said that it is the serious endeavour of the state government to provide all amenities of a basic nature to the people and ensure to mitigate their lot. Divulging more, Sidhu said that out of 11 fire vehicles flagged off on Wednesday, each would cater to the needs of Jalandhar, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Dinanagar, Dhuri, Sunam, Faridkot, Nabha, Dera Baba Nanak, Raikot and Nakodar cities.

Sidhu elaborated that eight more fire vehicles would be flagged off next week with one vehicle each for Jalandhar and Patiala, and two each for Ludhiana, Bathinda and Amritsar. He also disclosed that a Fire Services Directorate would come up and a Fire Prevention Act would also put into place regarding which deliberations would be held during the next cabinet meeting. He also said that the Punjab government would observe 'Fire Extinguishing Service Week' on annual basis from 17 to 21 April.

Lashing out at the previous regime, the minister said that out of the grant of Rs 90 Crore given by the Union government only Rs 17 Crore was spent and the rest was resumed. He also said that due to this non-utilisation and haphazard use of funds, Punjab has been placed in 'Red Zone' by the Union government. He also brought out that Punjab has 195 fire vehicles for 54 fire stations out of which 114 are outdated. Terming the flagging off as a small beginning, Sidhu said that the state government would take it forward with a missionary zeal.