Fire tenders doing brisk business in Jaintia Hills

JOWAI: With the coal mining and export season reaching its peak over the past few days, the Fire Service department in East Jaintia Hills has been earning a good profit from the lucrative coal trade.
Several coal mine owners are employing the services of the fire tenders (vehicles) to spray water on the coal deposits to prevent them from getting discoloured from the dust, which is a normal occurrence during the dry seasons. These fire tenders charge Rs. 3000 per tanker and with four sprays over the course of the day, most of them are earning as much as Rs. 12,000 per day.
“If the businessmen use four tankers of water each a day, then each tanker makes Rs.12,000 in a day, which is very good business,” said a source from Mookhep.
These fire tender vehicles are stationed at Ladrymbai in East Jaintia Hills and as there has been no instance of fire incident in the past days or months, they have been engaged as tankers in the coal deposit areas and are making good money.