India, Oct. 19 -- The fire department has cancelled all leaves of its personnel for round-the-clock deployment across the city during Diwali, officials said on Saturday. Firefighters have been directed to work in 12-hour shifts till Wednesday instead of their routine eight-hour duty to ensure quick response to any emergency, officials added.

According to fire department officials, 75 vehicles, including water tenders, bowsers and small firefighting units, have been kept on standby to respond to any alert received from any part of Gurugram. Gulshan Kalra, joint director, Gurugram fire department, said that of these 75 vehicles, 10 have been arranged from private firms such as DLF, Maruti India Limited and Haldiram to be deployed at short ...