Mumbai Fire Brigade to review disqualified female candidates after protests

In a bid to pacify the agitating women aspirants, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) has said that it will review the disqualifications after going through the video recordings of the recruitment drive held on Saturday.

Several female participants had resorted to protest, alleging that they were rejected despite meeting the height criterion set by the authorities. As the agitation intensified, the police used lathi-charge to disperse the fuming crowd.

3,318 candidates make the cut out of over 7,000

According to the fire officials, more than 7,000 women aspirants were present for the recruitment drive. While 3,318 of them, who fulfilled the height criterion, were qualified for ground tests.

“The aspirants who reached the venue in time and fulfilled the height criterion were qualified for further process like ground and physical fitness tests. Those who didn't meet the specified criteria were disqualified. The entire recruitment process has been video-recorded. So after examining it (footage), further decision will be taken of allowing the female aspirants who were left out,” said the senior fire official.

MFB facing massive shortage of staff for 3 years

Till February 5, around 42,534 male and female aspirants have appeared for recruitment to 910 posts in the MFB. Of them, 25,963 aspirants have qualified the test which includes doing 20 pull-ups, shimmying down a 20-foot rope, running 800 m in under three minutes and jumping from a 19-foot height.

The MFB has been facing a massive shortage of firefighters since the last three years. So the mega recruitment process to fill 910 posts was started from January 13 onwards. The candidates fulfilling the criterion are qualified for the ground tests that are conducted in Dahisar.