GHAZIABAD The residents of Crossings Republik have been demanding a fire station in the township for four years now but it has been stalled as GMC is reluctance to part with the land chosen for it.The RWAs under the aegis of FedAOA had written to the district magistrate who in turn ordered a survey after which a plot of land in Dundahera was selected for the fire station, but no progress has been made in this regard.“There is an urgent need for a fire station in Crossings Republik township which has 29 highrise buildings where more than a lakh people live,” said Alok Kumar, president, FedAOA. “The nearest fire station is in Kotwali and is about 6 km. Given the traffic jam in the city and on NH-24, it takes more than half an hour for a fire tender to reach the township and in such conditions, any fire incident could turn catastrophic,” added Kumar.In the past four years, Fed AOA has been communicating with the administration. In 2016, they even filed a PIL in Allahabad high court.After the PIL, the administration woke up to the issue and in July this year, district magistrate Ritu Maheshwari wrote to chief fire officer but the CFO cited unavailability of land for fire station. “As per rules, the land for fire station has to be provided for free and in Crossings Republik we need at least 4,000 sqm of land to set up a fire station. So far, we have not received the land,” said Sunil Kumar Singh, chief fire officer.Maheshwari had ordered the scouting of land after which 4,148 sqm of land was identified near Dundehera for the fire station. “The land belongs to GMC which is not ready to part with it. As a result, the process has been stalled,” said an official. When municipal commissioner CP Singh was apprised of the situation, he said that the said piece of land is for a different purpose. “Ideally, the developers of the township should have provided with the land for fire station which they have obviously not done and now they are eyeing GMC land which we intend to use for another purpose,” said CP Singh, municipal commissioner. The FedAOA now plans to approach Allahabad high court on the impasse.“We are left with no other option but to approach the court which we will be doing shortly,” said Kumar.

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