Director General of Telangana Vigilance and Enforcement department Rajiv Ratan, whose sudden demise on April 9 shocked the police fraternity and his well wishers, was in the limelight of late due to the ongoing probe into irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, but he did make a mark for himself in terms of other works assigned by the Government.
While he held many significant posts, his stint as the Director General of TS Disaster Response and Fire Services department, for over three years from 2015, was particularly notable because of the sweeping changes he had brought about in its functioning, bringing the agency closer to the public with digital access and ensuring the Fire Safety Act was implemented in its true spirit.
Ratan did not think of it as a “non-focal” posting as he began addressing the changes as soon as he took charge by laying down the standard operating procedures for fire-fighting so that the response time for any fire mishap was reduced, through coordination with local police, traffic police and others to ensure a ‘green channel’.
“Earlier, we had to request a tanker from the water board for filling up our vehicles. But as a DG, he held meetings with the top officials there. Thereafter, a water tanker used to arrive at the mishap site for replenishing our vehicle. He was very particular about fire-fighting equipment for personnel rushing to attend emergency calls,” recalled GHMC Regional Fire Officer V. Papaiah.
As the DG, the officer had also introduced fire-fighting bullet bikes with foam mist so that they could become the first responders, making their way through regular traffic, to quell a minor fire before the bigger vehicle arrived on spot.
Regional Fire Officer (Central Zone) B. Harinatha Reddy, pointed out that Telangana became the first State to have introduced online services for fire safety renewals, no-objection certificates and permissions for various services besides making the renewals once in five years, bringing relief to citizens much before ‘ease of doing business’ became a norm.
“Taking permissions manually for any service used to be a laborious process with the applicant being forced to make rounds of many offices. It was cut short like ‘live’ linking fire attendance certificate for insurance claims. What used to take three months was made available online,” he explained.
The inventory module was digitised and those seeking our department services could apply online. Weekly mock drills at each fire station were made mandatory while teams were dispatched to residential schools to make children, especially girls, aware of domestic fire mishaps.
It was also during Ratan’s time that an erring builder was jailed while a prominent hotel was sealed for fire safety violations even while he ensured that fire personnel were made eligible for gallantry awards, including Presidential medals, thereby enhancing the department’s morale and reputation.
