A firefighter’s cry: ‘All life at stake but could not become regular’

Fire incidents are common in Thar Desert, a dry region spread over 20 thousand square kilometers in the south-east of Sindh province. Day after day there are reports of fires in Thar in local newspapers in which villages after villages are burnt.

According to Muhammad Somar alias Babu Kunbhar, a fireman from Islamkot Tehsil of Tharparkar district, as Thar is a dry region, fire occurrence is common and the number of fire incidents increases enormously in a few months of the year.

Talking to Independent Urdu, Babu Kunbhar said that ‘Thar is a desert region where there is little rainfall, the sand gets very hot in summer, so even a small spark can ignite a fire. There is no chance of rain during March to June and the weather is also the hottest, during these four months fire incidents increase manifold.’

Babu Kunbhar is the only fireman of Islamkot tehsil. Being a desert area, they have been given a four-by-four fire brigade vehicle so that they can reach the sandy area away from the road and control the fire.

Babu Kunbhar, 42, says that he was hired as a four-scale fireman in the municipal department on contract in 2004. Even before 2004, he worked as a fireman for a few years.

“Throughout the years, I have put out thousands of house fires, till today there is no such fire that I could not reach and put out.” Always worked with my life at stake, but despite the passage of 16 years I was not regularized in the sector and till today I work as a daily wage worker.’

He said: ‘Being non-regular, I don’t get any government benefits, nor will I get any pension after retirement. I have a list, I applied to 27 town officers in those 16 years to be regularized. Also applied to the district government and the deputy commissioner. Once I went to Karachi by bus to apply to the provincial secretary, but I could not meet him.

“Today my salary is only 20,000 per month, if I am regularized, my salary will be 40,000, along with government benefits and medical, and after retirement, I will also get pension.” So is it not my right to be regular?’

Babu Kanbhar not only works in Islamkot tehsil, but is also called in other tehsils when needed. They travel up to two hundred kilometers from Islamkot to put out fires in remote villages of Nagarparkar, Diplo and Chhachro tehsils.

“I keep an ax, a shovel and a hoe in the fire brigade car. Sometimes the car gets stuck in the sand to get it out or if the car can’t reach the fire, they cut the bushes and make a way. There is a shortage of water in the desert and if the fire cannot be extinguished with the water in the vehicle, they fill the fire with water from the well. Sometimes, if there is no water, I extinguish the fire with my hands.

He said: ‘With firefighting there is the rescue of trapped cattle and the rescue of people. This is a humanitarian work that I do not want to leave. All I am asking is that I should be regularized so that my children’s livelihood can be fulfilled.’