The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has approved a Tk199cr project to upgrade the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department on Tuesday.
The approval came at a meeting of the Ecnec, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, four days after fire service and civil defence rescuers failed to bring four-year old Jihad, trapped in an abandoned well, out alive.
The rescue effort sparked widespread criticism from the public who watched live coverage of the failed operation on television.
The project titled “Modernization of Fire Service and Civil Defence” is expected to be completed by June 2017. The government will pay for the entirety of the cost of the upgrade effort.
“The recent Jihad rescue attempt and Rana Plaza collapse have taught us there is no alternative to modernising the Fire Service and Civil Defence's methods and tools,” said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal after the meeting.
He said the government had decided that modern fire services be set up in every upazila of the country.
Under the project, four rescue command vehicles, three excavators, with a 60-tonne capacity each, and one-heavy duty crane for carrying out rescue operation will be procured.
For dousing fires, 12 toying vehicles, four special water tenders with 11,000-litre capacity each, five emergency tenders, four turntable ladders and other necessary equipment will also be procured.
The country currently does not have the equipment required to deal with earthquake rescue operations or even with the type operation that could have saved the little boy.
Volunteers recovered Jihad's body just 10 minutes after a 23-hour long rescue operation was called off by the fire service on Saturday afternoon.
Jihad had fallen down the 17-inch diameter shaft, 40 yards from his house in the capital’s Shahjahanpur Railway Colony, at about 4pm on Friday while playing with other children.
Ecnec also gave the nod to 11 projects, including the fire service upgrade, valued at Tk7,017cr. Of the total cost, some Tk4,817cr will come from foreign assistance, Tk2,176cr from public coffers and the remaining Tk24cr from the public agencies concerned.
To increase gas generation, the government will set up six well-head compressors at Titas and Narsingdi gas fields at a cost of Tk868cr. The project will be implemented by 2020 with the support of Tk729cr form the Japan International Cooperation Agency and Tk139cr from Bangladesh government funds.
The Ecnec also approved a Tk246cr Natural Gas Efficiency Project and a Tk2,935cr Multipurpose Disaster Shelter.
