Pune, 17th July 2026: A major administrative lapse within the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has left the Yerawada Fire Station without electricity for the past four days, severely affecting emergency response services.
The outage occurred after the power supply to a nearby hotmix plant was disconnected. Since the fire station was drawing electricity from the same connection, it too lost power.
The prolonged outage has disrupted several essential services at the fire station, including water pumps used to fill fire engines, wireless communication equipment and other electrical systems.
The Yerawada Fire Station is responsible for responding to emergencies across densely populated residential areas, slums and high-rise buildings. The loss of power has raised concerns over the station's ability to respond effectively in case of a fire or other emergencies.
Yerawada Fire Station in-charge Navnath Waikar reported the issue to PMC's Electrical Department soon after the outage. Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Vijay Bhilare also followed up with the civic administration.
Despite repeated complaints, the power supply was not restored for four days, affecting the functioning of one of the city's key emergency service centres.
As electricity to the hotmix plant is unlikely to be restored immediately, the PMC's Electrical Department has begun installing a separate power connection for the fire station.
The work remained incomplete on Thursday after daylight faded and is expected to be finished today.
When contacted, Chief Fire Officer Devendra Potphode said he was initially unaware of the prolonged outage. Following his instructions, officials clarified that complaints had been filed with the civic administration and that work on the new power connection is currently underway.
Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Vijay Bhilare said the department had informed the civic authorities immediately after the disruption, but restoration was delayed. He added that installation of a dedicated power line is now in progress.
Head of the PMC Electrical Department, Manisha Shekatkar, said the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's directions led to the disconnection of electricity to the hotmix plant.
Since the fire station was connected to the same power source, it was also affected. She said the civic body has now initiated work to provide the fire station with an independent electricity connection, which is expected to resolve the issue.
