The metropolis said it had started charging additional tax from the beginning of this fiscal year from people who pay land and house taxes. [break]
“The fund will be used for safety of the people living in Kathmandu,” Chief of KMC Kedar Bhadur Adhikari said adding, “All households will have to pay Rs 100 to the fund every year.”
He expressed the hope that the money collected for the fund will not be misused. Due to lack of the fund and vision of the the government agencies, people working in emergency services face severe risks while carrying out their responsibilities often with almost no safety equipment or training, experts say.
Currently the KMC does not have any plan to cope with natural disasters. People working in emergency services like fire brigade and other agencies work without coordination or planning, which often leads to confusion among different agencies.
“We are always late to respond to disasters. We need to have proper plans in place to tackle any disasters which may strike any time at any part of the city," Adhikari added.
The KMC said that a new action plan will be drawn up to deal with such problems. The fund will be used to buy necessary safety equipment. In the past, fire fighters in Kathmandu have struggled to deal with outbreaks of fire due to lack of necessary safety equipments and adequate fire trucks in the Valley which sees an average of three fire related incidents on a single a day.
Meanwhile, the government of Italy has donated two fire trucks to the metropolis which will arrive in Kathmandu soon. The Kathmandu Fire Brigade, popularly known as Juddha Barun Yantra will get the fire trucks.
The KMC said that the fire trucks are capable of fighting fire on building as high as 240 feet. Up to 21-storeyed buildings are being constructed in capital but the the existing fire trucks are capable of tackling blaze in building that are only three-storeyed. The office said that both engines were already are on their way to Kathmandu from from the Indian port city of Kolkota.
“The handover ceremony of the fire trucks might be held in the second week of August,” Adhikari said .The metropolis said that it had also asked the Danish government and requested other western countries to donate fire truck to the metropolis.
Moreover, the metropolis has also planned to decentralize the base for fire truck of Kathmandu Fire Brigade in three different locations. The office said one engines will be placed at Minbhawan, Balaju and third in suitable location, which would help fire fighters respond to emergencies quickly.
Loss of lives and property can be minimized if the fire fighter reached incident site on time, emergency workers say.
Related story
Built by Sajha Yatayat in Lalitpur’s Pulchowk, charging station...
