At a time when scarcity of drinking water has hit Kurseong and its adjoining areas, the town’s Fire and Emergency Services department is beset with another worry – the menace of frequent traffic jams in.
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| Traffic jams in Kurseong |
Despite the scarcity of drinking water in Kurseong, the town’s fire service department has managed to store sufficient water in the event of an emergency. The current dry and hot season has every possibility of triggering off an inferno and the fire brigade is prepared for any eventuality. But ironically, it is not the water supply they are worried about, but the unmanageable traffic jams that are on the narrow roads of town because they could prevent the firemen from reaching accident sites in time.
The fire engines at present have stored water from a reservoir and approximately 1 lakh litres can be sourced from Whistle Khola. The reservoir was mainly built for supplying water to the fire brigade by the town’s governing body.
Therefore, more than water shortage issues, the town’s fire department is more worried about being hindered by the seemingly perennial traffic jams that afflict town, due to which firemen may not be able to reach the accident spot and also refill their fire trucks with water.
As the officer informed, a fire recently broke out along the protection walls of Kurseong post office and telephone exchange, but the fire brigade were held up by a huge traffic jam right in the middle of town. Although the way got cleared up quickly on that occasion and they brought the fire under control, but had they been delayed a bit longer, the huge bundles of cables of the BSNL department would have got destroyed and the damage would have been costly.
Source:EOI
