Delhi: Five DFS officers promoted amid staff shortage
The development comes days after HT reported on the staffing crunch in DFS, which has left both supervisory and front-line personnel overstretched while doing fire safety inspections, as well as responding to emergencies.
Five station officers of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) have been promoted to the rank of assistant divisional officers (ADOs) to provide relief to the department operations, given it is grappling with manpower shortage. The promotion order was issued by deputy secretary (home) Ajay Kumar Sharma on Friday, officials said.
The development comes days after HT reported on the staffing crunch in DFS, which has left both supervisory and front-line personnel overstretched while doing fire safety inspections, as well as responding to emergencies. ADOs are responsible for fire safety inspections and compliance checks at more than 5,000 establishments, including restaurants, clubs, hotels, hospitals and commercial complexes.
Despite the promotions, vacancies remain significant. According to official data, DFS, before the promotions, had 18 ADOs against a sanctioned strength of 24. “Apart from inspections, ADOs also attend court hearings and handle RTI replies,” a senior DFS officer said.
The shortage is more severe at the station-officer level, who act as first responders during fire incidents. Against a sanctioned strength of 90 station officers, only 25 posts are currently filled. “We try to ensure response time is not impacted, but at times, it does. Command and control during multiple emergencies also suffers,” a station officer posted in west Delhi said.
Five Delhi Fire Services (DFS) station officers have been promoted to assistant divisional officers (ADOs) to alleviate manpower shortages affecting operations, as reported by officials. The DFS, currently facing significant vacancies, had only 18 ADOs instead of the sanctioned 24, and only 25 out of 90 station officer posts filled, impacting emergency response and inspections.