Wednesday, 9 March 2011

Technopark lacks a ‘Firewall’

Jisha Surya
First Published : 10 Mar 2011

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pamba, Periyar, Nila, Chandragiri, Gayatri, Bhavani and Thejaswini. But don’t start thinking about rivers, they are the names of high-rise buildings in Technopark.

 Spread over 300 acres, with about 2.1 million square feet of built up space, Technopark hosts over 120 IT and ITES companies. Over 15,000 IT professionals work here. The presence of high-rises and the sheer numbers of employees make it critical to have a Fire Station inside the campus.
The Technopark authorities had received the nod for starting a Fire Station inside the campus last year. All infrastructure facilities are now ready and the station is all set for operation. However, the inauguration is now getting delayed due to the declaration of the Assembly polls.
A senior official of Technopark alleged that the inauguration was being delayed unnecessarily citing the existence of the model code of conduct. ‘’Since the Fire Station is so crucial for the park, we had given 60 cents of prime land near the Bypass to the Fire and Rescue Services. Also, we spent almost ` 10 lakh for renovation of the office space near the Ginger hotel. All the infrastructure facilities are ready. The authorities could start the operations. It is getting delayed citing petty issues,’’ he said.
However, the Fire and Rescue officials said that they were waiting for the nod of Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who had been  designated to inaugurate the Fire Station at Technopark.
K Shivanadan, Technical Director, Fire and Rescue Services, said: “The inauguration was planned in the first week of March. The code of conduct came into force by March 1, which has undermined the inauguration plan. All the facilities, including two fire engines, one jeep and an ambulance, are ready for the station. We are waiting for the consent of the Minister so that we can start  operations soon.”
Currently, the Technopark has to rely on the Fire Station at Chackai in case of an emergency. The presence of a number of high-rise buildings and density of employees increase the risk factor. Many companies in Technopark have raised concerns about unnecessarily delaying the start of functioning of the Fire Station. “Who needs a Minister for an inauguration,” is the question that is now reverberating in Technopark.
 jisha@expressbuzz.com

0 comments:

 

All Stories

Blogroll

Site Info

Most Read Story

test

Text

Byline Copyright © 2011 Byline is Designed by suryajith for Jisha Surya. All rights reserved to the author.