Bhopal, June 13 (Hindustan Times). The fierce fire that broke out at 4:00 pm on Monday at Satpura Bhavan, located in front of Mantralaya (Vallabh Bhawan) in the capital Bhopal, could be completely controlled by 12:00 noon on Tuesday after a rescue operation that lasted for about 20 hours. After this, Tuesday was declared a holiday for all government offices operating in Satpura Bhawan. The General Administration Department has issued an order in this regard.
In fact, a fire broke out in the office of the Tribal Affairs Department operating on the third floor of the Satpura building at 4 pm on Monday, and in no time, the fire engulfed the entire building till the sixth floor. Due to which the documents kept in the building were burnt to ashes. The Satpura building was evacuated after the fierce fire. Due to the fire, only smoke was visible within a radius of two kilometers. There has been no loss of life in the fire.
When efforts to extinguish the fire failed, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sought the help of the Air Force from Defense Minister Rajnath Singh late at night. The Air Force team reached Satpura Bhawan late in the night to control the fire. In the night, about 100 soldiers from 10 army trucks along with four fire fighters got involved in extinguishing the fire. In order to control the rapidly growing fire, army personnel sprayed water from different directions in the building with the fire engines of the Municipal Corporation and Police Administration. About 50 vehicles, more than 500 water tankers were engaged in extinguishing the fire. Two Air Force officers and five jawans prepared the location-position report of Satpura Bhawan. Airforce officers stayed here till around 3 in the night.
ADG Fire Ashutosh Rai said that prima facie it seems that the fire broke out due to short circuit in AC. Although, the team had brought the fire under control by 8:00 am on Tuesday, but at 9.30 am again smoke started rising on the 6th floor. After this, the team of fire fighters completely controlled the fire by 12 noon. Here, the employees started reaching the office at around quarter to ten in the morning, but due to the fire, Tuesday was declared a holiday for the office located at Satpura Bhavan. After getting information about this, the employees returned to their respective homes.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called an emergency meeting at his residence office in the morning regarding the incident. In the meeting Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains, DGP including Home Minister Dr. Narottam Mishra, Health Dr. Prabhuram Chowdhary, officers Rajesh Rajoura, Mohd. Suleman, Neeraj Mandloi and concerned officers were involved.
Health Minister Dr. Prabhuram Chowdhary told that ‘the Chief Minister has constituted a high level committee for investigation. On the allegations of the Congress, he said that ‘there were no such important documents that such work could be done’. Congress’s allegations are baseless. More than 4000 employees used to work in this building, why would anyone do such a conspiracy.
Home Minister Dr. Narottam Mishra said that ‘it is not possible to destroy documents in the digital age. It will take some time, but soon the full backup will be created. Alternate offices will start from today evening and employees will start work from tomorrow. On the allegation of Congress, he said how anyone would take petrol and kerosene. Congress does politics on accidents.
At the same time, the team of officers formed on the instructions of Chief Minister Chouhan reached Satpura Bhawan for investigation. Rajesh Rajoura, Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, a member of the investigation team, said that ‘preliminary assessment has been done’. It is too early to say anything on the reasons for the fire.
Bhopal Collector Ashish Singh says, ‘Our priority was that there should be no loss of life and that the fire should not spread to the surrounding areas. The Chief Minister monitored this incident the whole time. Army’s help was also taken from the central government. The fire is under control with the efforts of all agencies – Army, CISF, BHEL, Airport Authority.
More than 12 thousand files burnt to ashes
The government estimates that the fire started due to a short circuit and spread due to a blast in the AC compressor. There have been blasts in more than 30 AC compressors in the entire office. The fire started from the third floor of the building and had reached the sixth floor. Around 1,000 employees were present in the building when the fire broke out. Everyone was taken out safely. It is being told that more than 12 thousand files kept in these four floors have been destroyed. Most of these files were related to the Medical Department.
