Chalai survives by mercy of fire god

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chalai Market Street is to capital city what Mithayi Theruvu is to Kozhikode, in terms of being major trade hub as well being a regular target of fire catastrophes. It was two years ago that Chalai market street witnessed a major fire outbreak for the last time. But, the counter measures announced to avert a similar tragedy again, still remains on paper.
The initial plan was to completely revamp of the market street, which is crammed by buildings which are several decades old.But, the plan was dropped after the administration realised that such a revamp was impossible without affecting the livelihood of the traders there. Following this, another plan was mooted, of installing fire hydrants in strategic locations in the market place so that the traders here can fight the fire as soon as it breaks out, without wasting time waiting for firefighting units to arrive.A seemingly simple thing to implement, but, it is yet to move ahead from the proposal stage.
Officials of fire and rescue services said that they conducted a study of the market street and identified locations where hydrants can be installed. The report was submitted to the district collector in 2015 itself.
“If there were no mishaps in the last two years it must have been out of luck,'' said a senior fire and rescue services official on condition of anonymity.
District collector S Venkatesapathi said he was not aware of such a report filed by the fire and rescue department and he would look into it soon.
Officials of Fire station at Rajaji Nagar in the city have decided to launch an awareness drive among the traders in Chalai and Pazhavangadi streets regarding the preventive measures that can be taken to avoid fire breakout, which they feel is the next best thing to do.