AAP MLA climbs onto crane during fire ops, sparks row

New Delhi: High drama prevailed when the harried shop owners, who were trying to douse flames along with the fire brigades in Chandni Chowk, stood up in arms against AAP legislator Alka Lamba who mounted on one of the fire tenders and allegedly caused delay in the rescue operation. The matter later took political overtones with Leader of the Opposition, Vijender Gupta, demanding lodging of an FIR against the AAP legislator.

A badly timed act by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Alka Lamba led to the delay in the relief operation in Chandni Chowk on Monday night after a major fire gutted around 80 shops.

The MLA allegedly climbed onto a special crane to take stock of the situation and also showed a victory sign towards the harried locals. The antic by the MLA stirred a controversy which not only invited the ire of the shop owners but also led to the political overtones regarding her absurd act. It led to the shouting of slogans against Ms Lamba.

While the fire fighters were in the middle of the operation and trying to douse the fire, a special fire brigade had to be called in to help Ms Lamba get down from the crane. Though she got down from the crane, she refused to descend from the fire brigade that was being used to douse the flames. This led to a delay in the relief operation.

Irked by this political gimmick, Delhi BJP spokesman Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga took to the social media networking site Twitter and called Ms Lamba’s act as “shameful.”

In the meantime, Mr Gupta demanded that Delhi police immediately file an FIR against Ms Lamba. He charged that she obstructed the public servants i.e. Delhi Fire Service (DFS) and the police personnel, in discharging their duties yesterday when the fire broke out in Chandni Chowk.

He said that it is a serious offence under Section 126 of the IPC. He further charged that the MLA disrupted the sensitive operation by climbing upon the DFS crane and remaining there for about an hour.

A number of fire brigades and police personnel continued to be occupied with the MLA’s safety and security. In fact her presence delayed the operations. Mr Gupta said that the MLA was motivated by a photo-shoot opportunity to improve her image amongst the public and to gain cheap popularity. The shopkeepers were unanimous in their opinion that her sign of victory (V) reflected her insensitivity. As a responsible public representative, she should have allowed the fire and police personnel to discharge their duties without any interruption.

Mr Gupta also asked the Kejriwal government to immediately strengthen the DFS by filling in the vacant post. As many as 1185 posts of firemen are not being filled up by DSSSB (Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board) despite their having qualified the recruitment test. Presently, there are only 1400 filled up posts of fire service personnel. But the government is apathetic towards the important issue of filling the DFS post.