A regular four-year course in fire service engineering was launched today that also aims to impart disaster management skills in students of this unique
discipline.
The Bachelor of Engineering (Fire) course was inaugurated at the National Fire Service College (NFSC) here in co-ordination with the National Disaster
Response Force (NDRF).
The course was imparted about 15 years back but stopped due to some constraints and now has been re-started again after getting an approval from the AICTE.
NDRF Director General O P Singh, who along with Nagpur University Vice Chancellor Dr S P Kane, launched the course said it is aimed to prepare the
required talent pool in the field of fire service and disaster management, an emerging theatre of challenge for the country.
The latest batch, after clearing the all-India JEE, has a strength of 55 students including seven girls.
The NFSC, established in 1956, functions under the administrative command of the Union Home Ministry and is aimed to impart skills and education to the
students in this special domain.
After a decade, fire engineering degree course restarts at NFSC
Nagpur: A decade after its closure, the degree course in fire engineering has been restarted at prestigious National Fire Service College, the only government college in Asia to offer the specialized course, from Saturday. The course, earlier called BE (Fire Engineering), has been rechristened as BTech (Fire Engineering).
About 55 students, including seven girls, have taken admission in the course that has tremendous demand in various industrial sectors, especially petrochemicals, chemicals, oil and mineral exploration. TOI had, on January 14 last year, first reported about NFSC's plans to restart the course.
The course was inaugurated in presence of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) director general OP Singh, Nagpur University vice chancellor Siddharthvinayaka Kane, National Civil Defence College (NCDC) director GS Saini, and NFSC director S Shamim.
An elated Shamim thanked union home ministry for according approval for admissions and also to NU which would be bestowing degrees on the students. He said the admission were made through JEE and strenuous medical tests.
The director stated that the institute would shift to a sprawling new campus, spread over 44 acres, in Raj Nagar in the next three to four months. "The buildings and other infrastructure is ready with the government providing a grant of Rs 200 crore. The union ministry would be providing another Rs 50 crore. The syllabus is designed after studying similar courses in Germany, Japan, Britain, the US and other countries. Out of about 490 graduates from our college, 260 are working abroad. The course is blend of a fire engineering and disaster management," he said.
Kane said it was proud moment for NU to be associated with the college. "I am confident that the college and course will get global recognition," he said.
BLAZING A TRAIL OF GLORY
How NFSC came into existence
The concept of providing training to fire service personnel in the country was first mooted by the expert panel in 1950 and NFSC became a reality in 1956 from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. It was later shifted to old commissionarate building at Nagpur. It offers certificate, diploma, advanced diploma and sub-officers courses. The BE Fire course of three-and-a-half years' duration started in 1978 with 30 seats for all India level.
Why the BE course was stopped
The course was run under NU and practicals as well as training programmes used to be conducted at VNIT and LIT. After VNIT first acquired autonomous status and later converted into deemed university, it stopped providing its facilities to NFSC students. Later union ministry failed to grant funds that led to closure of the course.
What will new facility offer
The 44-acre campus will be used for conducting firefighting drills. The institute will offer high-tech teaching aids including simulators. It would be a fully residential course with hostel and accommodation facilities. It would be fully operational in three to four months.
How admissions are made
For old BE course, NFSC used to conduct its own entrance examination in the city and there used to be tough competition for 30 seats. The eligibility was BSc with chemistry, physics, and mathematics (PCM). But in new BTech (Fire Engineering) course, the AICTE has granted 60 seats and the students are admitted on the basis of their score in JEE. The eligibility is Std XII pass with decent score along with JEE marks.
Quotes
We're the lucky ones to passed out from this college. Unfortunately, the course was stopped due to government's apathy. In a decade, 300 fire engineers would have graduated and recruited in various companies. Nonetheless, I am happy it has restarted and I've no doubt that it would attract global companies for recruitment.
— Amit Rodge ( Manager, Fire & Safety, GAIL, Alibaug, Mumbai)
I feel happy about the restart of BE engineering in Nagpur. There are many former students who are presently working at Navratna companies like GAIL and ONGC. None of the candidates pursuing this course remains unemployed.
Sanjeev Rodi (Manager, Fire & Safety, GAIL)
