Lok Sabha Question No. 1996 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-11
Subject: Expansion of Fire Services
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Brijmohan Agrawal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1996

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 11 TH  MARCH, 2025/ PHALGUNA 20, 1946 (SAKA)

EXPANSION OF FIRE SERVICES

†1996. SHRI BRIJMOHAN AGRAWAL:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) the initiatives taken by the Government under the Scheme for Expansion and Modernization of Fire Services in the State of Chhattisgarh during the last three years;

(b)  the  total  amount  allocated  and  utilized  and  the  target  set  under  this scheme in the State of Chhattisgarh during the last three years;

(c) whether the Government has made any assessment of gaps in firefighting infrastructure  and  personnel  requirements  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof, State-wise;

(d) whether any benchmarks have been set for response time and service delivery under this Scheme and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether any monitoring mechanism has been put in place to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of this Scheme and if so, the details thereof including key performance indicators thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI NITYANAND RAI)

(a) and (b): Recognizing the need for expansion and modernization of fire services in the States,  Fifteenth  Finance Commission recommended a

provision  of  Rs.  5000  crore  for  expansion  and  modernization  of the fire services at a state level. The Central Government has launched a 'Scheme for  Expansion  and  Modernization  of  Fire  Services  in  the  States'  on 04.07.2023 from the Preparedness and Capacity Building Funding Window under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for strengthening fire services in the States with a total Central outlay of Rs. 5,000 Crore. The detailed scheme is available at https://www.mha.gov.in/en/commoncontent/policies-guidelines.

Under  the  scheme,  Rs.147.75  crore  has  been  allocated  to  State  of Chhattisgarh, out of which, first instalment of Rs. 33.24 crore has already been released.  Targets set by the State Government under the Scheme, comprises  of  setting  up  of  12  nos  of  new  fire  stations  with  modern firefighting equipment like fire tender, high expansion foam generator, semiautomatic defibrillator, smoke extractor etc. in the State of Chhattisgarh, as well as capacity building training of fire personal and strengthening of state fire headquarter in the State.

(c): Fifteenth Finance Commission, in its report, has mentioned that Fire services  in  the  country  lack  resources  and  are  ill  equipped  to  provide adequate fire safety cover to the population. The extent of deficiency of fire services in the country, as noted in the report, is as under:

-  Fire stations - 97.54 %;
-  Firefighting and rescue vehicles - 80.04 %; and
-  Fire personnel - 96.28 %.

(d) and (e): Fire Services is a State subject and has been included as a Municipal function under the XII schedule of the Constitution of India under Article 243 (W).  It is the primary responsibility of the State Governments to ensure strengthening of Fire and Emergency Services under the area of their jurisdiction. The Central Government has only an advisory role in respect of fire services.

Under  the  Scheme,  the  States  are  permitted  to  undertake  following activities in order to strengthen the fire services in their respective states.

- (i) Expansion  of  Fire  Services  by  setting  up  of  new  fire  stations, strengthening of state training centres and capacity building of the firefighter, volunteers and community in fire prevention measures,

awareness programme etc. 35% of the fund has been allocated for this activity, out of which 5% is for capacity building.

- (ii) Modernization  of  fire  services  by  procuring  modern  firefighting equipment and strengthening of state headquarters and urban fire stations.  The  equipment  to  be  purchased  includes  hydraulic platform, turntable ladders among others as given in the indicative list circulated to the States along with the Scheme guidelines dated 4 th  July, 2023. 50% of the fund has been allocated for modernization of fire services.
- (iii) Provision has also been made for any State specific demand under which not only the states can raise their demand to top-up their respective ongoing projects requiring additional financial assistance, but also flexibility has been given to them to meet the states specific requirements. 15% of the fund has been allocated for State specific demand.
- (iv) Out of the total allocated fund of Rs.5000 crore under the Scheme, an amount of Rs.500 crore has also been kept for incentivising the States on the basis of their legal and infrastructure-based reforms.

Under the scheme the states need to execute the activities envisaged by 31.03.2026.

As on date, proposals of twenty (20) states have been approved for financial assistance under the Scheme. A total amount of Rs.757.39 crore has already been released to eighteen (18) States towards 1 st  installment of the project. The state-wise details of the approved proposals under the Scheme is at Annexure.

Under the scheme, before release of the fund, the States are required to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with DG (FS, CD &HG) for proper utilization of funds and adherence to the guidelines.

In  the  scheme  there  is  provision  of  a  Project  Monitoring  Unit  housed  at Directorate  General  (Fire  Service,  Civil  Defence  &  Home  Guards)  which facilitates the State in finalization of State-wise plan as well as handholding advices  and  will  monitor  the  progress  in  implementation  of  the  scheme across all the States.

***

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) and (e) of the Lok Sabha unstarred question no. 1996 for 11.03.2025

## State-wise details of the approved proposals under the Scheme

(Rs. in crore)

|   Sl. No. | States            | Total Allocation   | 1 st instalment   |
|-----------|-------------------|--------------------|-------------------|
|         1 | Andhra Pradesh    | 252.86             | 56.90             |
|         2 | Manipur           | 45.00              | 12.15             |
|         3 | Meghalaya         | 44.37              | 11.98             |
|         4 | Telangana         | 190.14             | 42.78             |
|         5 | Uttar Pradesh     | 768.67             | 172.95            |
|         6 | Himachal Pradesh  | 65.33              | 17.64             |
|         7 | Punjab            | 131.56             | 29.60             |
|         8 | Sikkim            | 32.25              | 8.71              |
|         9 | Tripura           | 42.36              | 11.44             |
|        10 | Uttarakhand 78.89 |                    | 21.30             |
|        11 | Assam             | 107.47             | 29.02             |
|        12 | Karnataka         | 329.90             | 74.23             |
|        13 | Mizoram 40.00     |                    | 10.80             |
|        14 | Tamil Nadu 373.27 |                    | 83.99             |
|        15 | Chhattisgarh      | 147.745            | 33.24             |
|        16 | Nagaland          | 40.05              | 10.81             |
|        17 | Odisha            | 200.384            | 45.09             |
|        18 | West Bengal       | 376.76             | 84.77             |
|        19 | Arunachal Pradesh | 63.95              | -                 |
|        20 | Goa               | 42.16              | -                 |

***