A severe manpower shortage in NMC’s Fire and Emergency Services Department has begun stretching emergency response capabilities thin, raising grave concerns over citizen safety. The Fire Department is currently functioning with just 116 personnel against 872 santioned posts. To mitigate the operational crisis, the civic body has moved to hire 100 trainee firefighter-rescuers (Prashikshit Agnishamak Vimochak) on a six-month contractual basis at a fixed consolidated honorarium of Rs 20,000 per month. The Department’s staffing crunch worsened drastically following a Urban Development Department’s Government Resolution (GR), issued in June by the State Urban Development Department.

 

The controversial directive scrapped a couple of state-recognised fire training courses, which left recruitment of nearly 350 permanent firefighters across Maharashtra, especially in Nagpur, on indefinite hold. With regular recruitment stalled and existing fire personnel heavily overburdened across city’s fire stations, the contractual intake was initiated as an emergency stopgap. According to the Fire Department officials, the department conducted direct interviews on August 17. Out of 276 candidates who applied, 136 met the mandatory physical and technical standards including certifications from State Fire Training Centre (SFTC), Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE), or All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG), along with SSC and MSCIT qualifications.

 

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Tushar Barahate stated that the administration is actively processing the final selection list to deploy the personnel without delay. “A total of 276 applicants responded to the recruitment notification, out of whom 136 qualified the physical and technical eligibility screening. The department is working aggressively to finalise the results within next two days to shortlist top 100 individuals. Appointment letters will be issued immediately thereafter, ensuring that all 100 personnel join their respective fire stations by the end of August,” said Barahate. While temporary induction of 100 personnel will provide immediate operational relief across fire stations during peak monsoon and festival duties, the State Government must resolve the GR bottleneck and clear regular recruitment to ensure long-term fire safety readiness in city.

 

 

Rajendra Uchake resumed charge of Chief Fire Officer (CFO) in NMC after a suspension of more than three years following a legal case. Uchake resumed charge on August 3. He took the charge of CFO in August 2012 and was later suspended by the then Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B in April 2023. He took charge after acquittal from the legal charges on June 2026. Uchake will now have to deal with the various pending issues including the major issue of vacant positions. With this change in the Fire Department, former CFO Tushar Barahate has now taken the charge as Deputy Chief Fire Officer.