Jamshedpur, Feb. 27: As shocking as it may sound, the fire station here does not answer SOS calls. Ask the station officer why and he says it’s due to the high number of crank calls.

This dangerous practice came to light during the recent Bistupur fruit market blaze that gutted 60 shops and business establishments with losses estimated at Rs 50 lakh.

During Monday’s 3am blaze, after frantic calls to the fire station — at 2431036 — went unanswered, someone had the presence of mind to inform the police control at 100.

The police then passed on a message to the nearest police station at Golmuri. Finally, a messenger ran — yes, ran — to the government fire-station to seek help. Fire station officer Mahanand Singh admitted they did not answer calls, but blamed the police for not acting on their complaint of crank calls.

“The number, 2431036, functioned well till 2001, but after Reliance and Airtel’s toll-free number (101) was tagged to it, there was a spate of crank calls,” he said.

Singh disclosed they fixed a caller-ID machine and collected as many as 5,000 telephone numbers.

They lodged an FIR with the Golmuri police station mentioning 50 telephone numbers from where the maximum number of prank calls had been made.

“But the police did not act. Ultimately, we stopped receiving all calls,” said Singh.

Superintendent of police, East Singhbhum district, Naveen Kumar Singh is aghast at the state of events.

“If the fire station officer was serious enough, he would have definitely contacted me about the FIR,” he said.

Inspector and officer-in-charge of Golmuri police station R.S. Vidyarthy confirmed the fire station’s FIR.

“I can’t say why action could not be taken … Moreover, we have more important matters to pursue other than chasing crank-callers,” he said.

Vidyarthy, however, promised to bring the culprits to book and “restore order” at the Golmuri fire station.

But Singh’s accusation against the police notwithstanding, he would be hard put to explain some of the inefficiencies and deficiencies that have long plagued fire-fighting capabilities in Golmuri.

In Bistupur, for instance, fire engines reached late, and one did not have water in its tank.

Moreover, out of 29 hydrants across Jamshedpur only one is operational.

The others have either been stolen or have been rendered defunct.

Singh of course sought to bail himself out by saying he had only taken charge six months ago and, therefore, had no idea about the state of the hydrants. “I have been informed that all hydrants except one near the Sakchi water tower are defunct. I have asked for a list so that I can conduct tests on them before summer,” he added.