Fire in UT Secretariat

Eyewitnesses point out that as the news of the fire spread, all the employees left their offices and evacuated the building. Four fire tenders were pressed into service, which took about an hour to extinguish the fire.

It is learnt that the SE, P.S. Chawla who heads the Electricity Operations Circle of the Department, was away on leave and was expected to join duty today. A secretariat employee pointed out that since nobody was in the room when the fire broke out, it raged unabated. It was only after smoke started emanating out of the room that the fire was noticed by those sitting outside.

On account of the heat generated by the fire, considerable damage was caused to the rooms adjoining the Superintending Engineer8217;s office. The blades of the fans in these rooms got mis-shapened. The ceiling of the rooms along the corridor were blackened too. Work in the Secretariat was suspended for about two hours following the fire.