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Heroes of 26/11- They fought blazes and saved lives, but were forgotten soon

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Firemen worked for days together during the attack
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They didn’t even flinch once as they grabbed their gear and rushed to douse fire amid an intense gun battle between the teams of Mumbai police and National Security Guards, and 10 Pakistani terrorists on the night of November 26, 2008. As many as 381 firemen spent over 72 hours days in batches to hose down blazes and rescue hostages.

While this display of exemplary commitment and bravery was appreciated by all and sundry and many promises were made, they never got translated into any compensation or monetary benefit or recognition on professional front for many of the heroes.

“At that time, the then mayor had announced Rs1 lakh compensation for those injured, but I haven’t got a penny so far,” said a firefighter, who had sustained injuries to his legs while tackling a fire at Nariman House. The fireman spent nearly 40 days at Nair hospital.

None of the them had bullet-proof jackets and any other equipment to protect themselves from explosions and bullets whizzing by. Reply to an RTI query by Abhay Abhiyaan, an organisation that works for the welfare of firemen, had revealed that only 227 of the 381 firemen on duty during 26/11 were given an increment, while seven staffers from the fire department received the gallantry award from the President.

“Forget the gallantry award, many of us haven't even got that one increment promised by the mayor. Why promise things they can’t be fulfilled? It's sad that we didn't get any recognition for the work we did,” said another fireman, who had worked more than 24 hours at Nariman House.

Deputy fire officer P Rahangdale said, “Those who took part in firefighting in the first two days got the increment. The rest were just kept on standby.”

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