Fire destroys Maharashtra government building

Files and official records kept in various departments of the Maharashtra government were destroyed in a fire that broke out in four floors of the state secretariat building in south Mumbai Thursday afternoon. No one was killed but eight state employees were rushed to the state-run J. J. and St George’s Hospitals after sustaining minor injuries. Initially, scores of employees were trapped in the upper floors of the six-storey building. They were all however, rescued by the fire brigade and were successfully brought to safety by 5pm. “Nobody is trapped in any floor of the building as of now,” Maharashtra minister Nitin Raut said.An estimated 4,500 people, including 3.000 employees, managed to exit the building within 90 minutes after the fire broke out at around 2.45 pm. “Using ladders, the fire brigade personnel rescued at least 65 employees trapped in the building,” a state government official said, The fire started on the fourth floor of Mantralaya, as the state secretariat is known, where the Urban Development, Education and Revenue departments are located. The fire swiftly spread to third, fifth and sixth floors. According to sources, the first broke out near the office of Tribal Welfare Minister Babanrao Pachpute and spread to the Urban Development, Education and other offices. Preliminary reports attributed the cause of the fire to a short circuit in the air-conditioning system. However, the authorities have yet to establish the exact cause. Adarsh housing scam Speculations are rife that the records of the Adarsh housing society scam were among the documents destroyed in the fire. The documents were believed to have been kept in the Urban Development department. However, a senior state official said: “The records of the state urban development department may have [been] gutted in the fire, but the development will have no bearing on the ongoing CBI investigations into the Adarsh scam and the proceedings that is going on before a two-member Commission of Inquiry. This is because the CBI and Commission of Inquiry are in possession of all the files and documents relating to the Adarsh scam”. The fire brigade brought the situation under control at around 6pm. “We have nearly extinguished the fire. The situation is very much under control now,” senior State Minister Patangrao Kadam said. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who was not in the building when the fire broke out, rushed to the Manatralaya to supervise firefighting operations.from gulfnews.com