A major portion of the Uttaranchal Assembly building was gutted in a devastating fire today morning, forcing postponement of the ongoing Budget session.The fire erupted in the newly constructed building two days after a bench of the Assembly had given away, felling four ruling party legislators. The House had been unanimous then in condemning the poor quality of work done to make the building just one and a half years ago. Speaker Yashpal Arya had ordered a probe to check both the construction work and the furniture installed in the Assembly.The fire was noticed by a constable of the Provincial Armed Constabulary posted on security duty, but before fire tenders could reach, the entire lobby along with its furniture, the gallery and the gates of the Well of the House were completely gutted. It took an hour for the personnel to control the fire and prevent it from spreading further.Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari, Speaker Yashpal Arya and other ministers and bureaucrats rushed to the building on being informed about the incident.Later the Speaker ruled out any foul play in the incident and said the cause was most probably an electric short-circuit. He also ordered an inquiry, headed by Principal Secretary (Home), which would submit its report within a week.The Speaker reiterated that action would be taken against senior officials for the ‘‘inferior’’ work done in the Assembly. Arya also talked of suspending the officials concerned pending an inquiry. He feared that one day the state Assembly building might itself collapse.Uttarakhand Kranti Party’s leader in the Assembly, Kashi Singh Aeri, echoed his views. ‘‘It is high time the state government suspended the senior officials responsible for such poor quality works, pending an inquiry,’’ he said.
