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Women fire-fighters in Bengal to rescue Muslim women during fires
Kolkata, August 2: The death of a Muslim woman, who was caught in a blaze as the locals refused to allow entry to male fire-fighters to rescue her, in Colootola, central Kolkata, recently has spurred the West Bengal Fire Services Department to propose the induction of women fire-fighters.
National Elections in India must be imminent
If the proposal gets the nod of the State Finance Ministry, the West Bengal Fire services will be the first to have women as fire-fighters.

Fire department sources said the Colootola incident was not the only one of its kind. What prompted the State Government to moot the plan is several such cases where women of the Muslim community refused to be escorted out of the fire zone by male fire-fighters.

‘‘We have a problem with women of Muslim community who do not want to be rescued by male fire-fighters even when they are on the verge of death. This has prompted me to think of raising a women force,’’ said Pratim Chatterjee, Minister for Fire Services.
It'd prompt me to say "too bad" before going to lunch.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) which has ruled Bengal for over 3 decades is worried about their Muslim vote bank.
The fire services department’s plan and the recommendations have gone to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, said officials. The proposals will then be placed before the Finance Department and finally before the Cabinet. At present, the Fire Services department has 700 vacancies. The department wants at least 5 per cent of the posts to be filled by women, the minister said.

The minister also said he was planning to have a 25-member rapid action fire force which will be trained to fight fires of great magnitude. ‘‘It will be raised along the lines of the National Security Guards who are always ready to tackle any emergency anywhere in the State,’’ said Chatterjee.

The Kolkata Police have welcomed the decision. ‘‘We have women police here and they are doing excellent job. I think if we have women fire-fighters, it will help the department to do its job much better,’’ sai dAnuj Sharma, DCP, headquarters of Kolkata Police.
Posted by: john frum 2008-01-18
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=219958