"I will monitor the drive against those violating the laws and if necessary I will amend the Fire Service Act," Babar said.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Fire Service and Civil Defence Week-2006 at Mirpur training complex yesterday.

He said there have been casualties in fire incidents as many factories lack the necessary firefighting equipment and are violating the code of conduct.

According to the fire department, there were 7,135 fire incidents across the country last year. These incidents left 54 people dead and caused an estimated loss of Tk 273 crore.

Admitting the lack of modern emergency equipment, the state minister said the home ministry would formulate a proposal within a month to buy modern equipment for fighting fires and facilitating salvage operations in emergency situations like building collapse incidents.

He said the proposal would be sent to the planning commission for approval.

Babar said 36 new fire stations became operational since 2001 and with these the total number of fire stations rose to 170.

He also said construction work of 122 more fire stations is underway while Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) recently approved 78 more fire stations. The number of fire stations across the country will stand at 370 after implementation of the projects.

Babar said the government increased the salary of warehouse inspectors, station officers and foremen. It is now considering providing 40 percent risk allowance to the operational staffs, he added.