PANAJI
It is a rare occasion in current day's highly competitive politics that agreement and unanimity emerges in the State's political arena. Wednesday witnessed one such rare occasion during the proceedings of the Goa legislative assembly session.
And pleasantly Goa's hardworking fire-fighters were cornering all the glory, coming in for praise from legislators belonging to all parties.
Almost every MLA who spoke on the demands for grants for the Fire and Emergency Services, had a word of praise for the department's chief Nitin Raikar and his men.
Taleigao MLA Jennifer Monserrate set the tone early praising Raikar and his team for all the hard work they put in being the first to respond to people in distress.
Monserrate made a fervent plea to beef up the force with modern equipment, pointing out that it had just two hydraulic ladders - one each in North and South Goa -- and they needed more.
The Taleigao MLA was soon joined in her praise for the firemen by almost every other legislator who spoke during the nearly eight-hour long discussion on the demands for grants for the department and thirty-odd other budget heads.
Whether from the treasury or Opposition benches, MLA after MLA spoke in praise of the firemen and also demanded better working conditions, promotional avenues and more modern equipment for them.
At least half a dozen legislators drew the attention of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to the fact that there were several vacancies since 2014 in middle-level and higher posts in the department and since there were officers with the requisite 11 years of experience, promotions should be granted.
Smaller fire-engine vehicles so that remote distress sites accessed by narrow roads can be reached, better and more equipment besides manpower were some of the demands voiced by the MLAs for the fire services department.
Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira made a case for permitting fire stations located in rural areas to hire casual workers in cases of emergencies especially during the monsoon.
Sequeira argued that unlike fire stations in Urban areas which are assisted with personnel by Urban local bodies -- the Municipal Corporation in the case of Panaji and Municipal councils in other cities and towns -- the rural fire stations get no such assistance.
