200 injured in fire brigade recruitment drive

State humans rights commission seeks explanation from the BMC.

With over 200 youths having sustained multiple injuries while jumping from a height of 19 feet onto jumping sheets as part of Mumbai Fire Brigade’s (MFB’s) recruitment drive, the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has issued notice to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), asking it to submit a detailed report by September 28.

In the letter sent to BMC chief, MSHRC has said that it has taken suo moto cognisance of the matter and decided to inquire vide the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, into possible violation of human rights.

Deemed as the largest so far, the recruitment drive was undertaken by the Borivali command centre of fire department on August 19 and will continue till September 7. It aims to fill 774 vacancies in the MFB with 12,000 aspirants having participated in it till now. However, one of the conditions that require candidates to jump from a height of 19 feet onto jumping sheets is proving to be highly risky with over 200 participants having sustained multiple injuries, some of them having landed in hospital. Irked by the state of affairs, candidates have even demanded scrapping of this controversial condition.

For example, Deepak Patil, a 24-year-old youth from Dhule, fractured his left leg while jumping in the recruitment drive and was admitted to BMC-run Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali. However, he did not like the facilities there and finally moved to a hospital in Dhule where his leg operation was scheduled on Tuesday. “Civic officials refused to bear the cost of operation. They also said it would take at least 15 days for surgery. Hence, I decided to go back to Dhule. The safety equipment used in the recruitment drive is also not up to the mark,” Mr Patil told this newspaper.

But chief fire officer Prabhat Rahangdale refuted all allegations of inadequate safety measures during the recruitment drive. “The candidates suffered injuries only because they did not jump properly,” he said.