Major fire in D block of Secretariat. It’s sabotage by Cong: Opposition
A majority of the nearly 1,000 employees who work in the block, ran out when alerted about the fire allegedly caused by electrical short-circuit from a server in a room on the second floor around 2 p.m.
Some trapped employees were rescued by police and firemen who arrived within minutes.
Giddiness
Firemen broke open the door of a lunch-room on the second floor and rescued four employees, who collapsed after developing giddiness when smoke filled the room. Four women, who were stranded in a lift as power supply was switched off, were also brought out. None was injured.
Using half-a-dozen fire tenders, a snorkel and water tankers sent by the civic body, about 20 firemen battled for three hours to bring the flames under control. In the end, the interiors of the second and third floors of the building resembled war-ravaged zones.
Neither Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, away in Kadapa, nor any Minister was present on the premises. Labour Minister G. Vinod who came along with wife at 3 p.m, was aghast at the plumes of smoke that belched out from his office on the third floor. Finance Minister K. Rosaiah, whose office on the same floor remained safe, arrived later and announced that an inquiry into the fire would be conducted by an official committee comprising the Principal Secretary (Political), Director-General, Fire Services, and Chief Engineer, Roads & Buildings. It would identify the reasons and make suggestions to improve the system to prevent such fire in Secretariat. He said the incident had also been referred to CB-CID to investigate if there was a conspiracy.
The panel and the CB-CID would submit the reports in a week.
He said entry into the block had been barred to enable the forensic experts to collect samples of ash and burnt material.
Earlier, the Minister briefed the Chief Minister and reviewed the issue with Chief Secretary P. Ramakanth Reddy who visited the block while fire-fighting operation was on.
Employees working in seven other blocks fled the premises.
‘Something fishy’
K. Ramamohan Rao (Telugu Desam), G. Vijayarama Rao (Telangana Rasthra Samiti) and K. Ramakrishna (CPI) alleged that the fire was master-minded by the government to destroy some important files and data in the computers and said an inquiry by a sitting judge would be ordered if the Grand Alliance assumed power.The fire at the citadel of the state government
assumed political overtones with the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana
Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Prajarajyam describing it as an act of ’sabotage’ by the Congress to destroy key controversial files as the ruling party was sure that it will not return to power.
The fire started in the second floor, housing the IT department and spread to the third floor housing the finance department. “Important files that establish corruption on the part of the state government were destroyed in the fire. We will order an inquiry by a sitting judge after we take charge,” TDP leaders Kodela Sivaprasada Rao and Laljan Basha told the media at the D Block mishap spot.
Similar charges were levelled by the TRS and the PRP. TRS leader G Vijayarama Rao said it was an act of sabotage to destroy key files that would expose corruption by the Congress.
PRP’s D Shravan said the fire department had alerted the authorities three months ago about a mishap waiting to happen because of the cables in the second floor server room but no action was taken. He demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge to establish whether it was an act of arson or accident.
However, finance minister K Rosaiah dismissed the opposition charges as baseless and went on to describe them as having lost their mental balance. “This is not the time to resort to such cheap tactics. There is no question of sabotage and the Congress will return to power and rule for another five years. In any case, we have ordered an inquiry by the CB-CID as well as another by a team of three senior officers,” he said, and added that the names of the three officers will be announced on Friday.
Chief secretary P Ramakanth Reddy, who along with Aruna Bahuguna, director general, fire services, supervised the evacuation of the trapped state government employees at D block, said overloading of the computer servers could have caused the fire but hastened to add that an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the fire.
But despite the dismissal of the sabotage angle by the finance minister, the conspiracy theory continued to do the rounds. With a week left for the election results to be out, opposition leaders smelt victory for the Grand Alliance and described the fire “the last act of a desperate Congress which knows it is on its way out.” Two floors of Andhra Pradesh secretariat were gutted in a fire that raged through the sprawling complex on Thursday afternoon injuring
13 people and destroying key files.
The opposition TDP, TRS and Praja Rajyam accused the ruling Congress of deliberately starting the fire to destroy “secret files”. The government denied the allegation. The fire brigade said they suspected a short circuit or a power overload.
Fire brigade officials said the blaze began in the server room of the IT department on the second floor of the secretariat’s D Block and spread to the server room on the third floor. When it was controlled after a two-hour battle by firemen by 4.30 pm, the server rooms of both the IT and finance departments had been gutted.
Officials said 13 employees suffered minor injuries. Two attendents and two fire fighters had to be shifted to the Osmania General Hospital while others were treated at an ambulance stationed at the Secretariat.
YSR will be never in Hyderabad when the ghastly plans are executed. When Paritala was killed, he went on a week’s tour to China. When files and computers are burnt in the Secretariat, he is away in Kadapah.