By Express News Service
BHOPAL: An advanced fire-fighting hydraulic ladder worth Rs 5.5 crore bought nine months ago lay unused 40 metres away from the seven-storey Satpura Bhawan in Bhopal, which caught fire on Monday.
According to the NDTV, bought with much fanfare about nine months ago to help fight fires in buildings up to 18 storeys high, the lack of clearance from the Regional Transport Office and of qualified personnel ensured that it could play no role in fighting one of the biggest fires in Bhopal in recent years, said senior fire department officials. The Army and Indian Air force had to get involved to douse the fire.
The massive fire on the top four floors of Satpura Bhawan in Bhopal, which was doused in around 17 hours, has generated enough political heat in the assembly polls-bound state.
The opposition Congress, while terming the blaze a “state-sponsored, planned, abnormal and man-made fire,” alleged that important files pertaining to scams in health and other departments were destroyed in the fire in a planned manner. Senior party leaders, including state party chief Kamal Nath, leader of opposition Dr Govind Singh and media wing head KK Mishra, while questioning why the fire happened at the government building months before assembly polls, demanded a probe into the entire fire by an independent agency or a sitting judge.
Congress leader KK Mishra also questioned why a committee of bureaucrats had been formed by the CM to probe the fire, instead of forming an inter-ministerial committee, which should have had the leader of the opposition also on board.
“It was only after the Indian Army arrived late at night that the fire was controlled. But why did it take so long for the CM to call the Army, he actually preferred first forming a probe panel to know the causes of fire instead of first calling the Army for rescue and fire-fighting operations. The state’s home minister says that no important file has been burnt, while a senior health department woman official claims that thousands of important files of the health department have been gutted. Why is there a difference between what the minister says and what is stated by a woman bureaucrat,” Mishra questioned at a press conference in Bhopal.
“Just 15 days back, I had apprehended fire at government offices to destroy files pertaining to corruption, but never knew it’s going to happen so soon. The blaze at the government building indicates that the BJP government is going and a Congress government is coming in MP,” Mishra said.
He further questioned what was the use of buying a hydraulic aerial platform machine for crores of rupees, when it couldn’t be used to douse the fire up to a height 52 meters, for reasons best known to the government.
Not just Congress, but other opposition parties also raised the issue of the fire. Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi MLA and MP state co-in charge Pravin Deshmukh, while accusing the BJP government of covering up scams through fire, demanded a judicial probe.
BSP MP and MP state’s in-charge Ramji Gautam said, “Satpura was burning, while those in power were smiling, because files related to nursing colleges, COVID spending and other scams were burning.”
Rubbishing Congress and other opposition parties’ allegations, the state government’s official spokesperson and home minister Narottam Mishra said, “It seems the Congress is yet to realize that we’re living in the digital era. The files damaged by the fire can be recreated from the data in the hard disc and pen drives. Also, most schemes are central government-aided schemes, hence getting back-up of the lost data will be easier.”
The minister added that none of the destroyed files were related to tenders or purchases, so where does the question of files related to irregularities getting burnt arise.
He also said that the hydraulic aerial platform machine couldn’t be used for fire-fighting as the passage inside the Satpura Bhawan premises wasn’t enough for it.
“I’ve seen at least 34 fire tenders engaged in dousing the fire till Monday night. Even IAF aircrafts in Gwalior were ready to fly to Bhopal to douse the fire. A high-level committee of top bureaucrats and a police officer has been formed by the CM to probe all aspects of the blaze and asked to submit its report in 3 days. Also, the CM has directed all concerned to engage experts from major cities, including Mumbai to devise systems in all major cities of MP, to prevent recurrence of such fires.”
Importantly, thousands of government files have been reportedly gutted in the fire on the four top floors of Satpura Bhawan building (located close to the state secretariat-Vallabh Bhawan).
The fire, which was possibly triggered due to an electric short circuit in one of the air-conditioners on the third floor (which houses the regional office of tribal welfare department) at around 4 pm, spread fast to the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the six-storied building.
“More than 50 fire tenders from various parts of Bhopal and adjoining Raisen district, helped us control the fire by midnight, but the fire was completely doused in around 17 hours by 9 am on Tuesday. Had it not been high-velocity winds on Monday afternoon, we would’ve controlled the fire by Monday evening only,” the Bhopal Municipal Corporation’s fire officer Rameshwar Meel told this newspaper.
The government departments whose offices were located on the four floors, included the regional office of tribal welfare department and offices of health and family welfare department. Fortunately, around 4000 employees were rescued in time from the fire-hit building.
“Holiday was declared for all employees working at the Satpura Bhawan. By Tuesday evening, the offices will be shifted for time being to alternative places to ensure that work on those offices resumes by Wednesday,” the home minister said.
BHOPAL: An advanced fire-fighting hydraulic ladder worth Rs 5.5 crore bought nine months ago lay unused 40 metres away from the seven-storey Satpura Bhawan in Bhopal, which caught fire on Monday.
According to the NDTV, bought with much fanfare about nine months ago to help fight fires in buildings up to 18 storeys high, the lack of clearance from the Regional Transport Office and of qualified personnel ensured that it could play no role in fighting one of the biggest fires in Bhopal in recent years, said senior fire department officials. The Army and Indian Air force had to get involved to douse the fire.
The massive fire on the top four floors of Satpura Bhawan in Bhopal, which was doused in around 17 hours, has generated enough political heat in the assembly polls-bound state.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The opposition Congress, while terming the blaze a “state-sponsored, planned, abnormal and man-made fire,” alleged that important files pertaining to scams in health and other departments were destroyed in the fire in a planned manner. Senior party leaders, including state party chief Kamal Nath, leader of opposition Dr Govind Singh and media wing head KK Mishra, while questioning why the fire happened at the government building months before assembly polls, demanded a probe into the entire fire by an independent agency or a sitting judge.
Congress leader KK Mishra also questioned why a committee of bureaucrats had been formed by the CM to probe the fire, instead of forming an inter-ministerial committee, which should have had the leader of the opposition also on board.
“It was only after the Indian Army arrived late at night that the fire was controlled. But why did it take so long for the CM to call the Army, he actually preferred first forming a probe panel to know the causes of fire instead of first calling the Army for rescue and fire-fighting operations. The state’s home minister says that no important file has been burnt, while a senior health department woman official claims that thousands of important files of the health department have been gutted. Why is there a difference between what the minister says and what is stated by a woman bureaucrat,” Mishra questioned at a press conference in Bhopal.
“Just 15 days back, I had apprehended fire at government offices to destroy files pertaining to corruption, but never knew it’s going to happen so soon. The blaze at the government building indicates that the BJP government is going and a Congress government is coming in MP,” Mishra said.
He further questioned what was the use of buying a hydraulic aerial platform machine for crores of rupees, when it couldn’t be used to douse the fire up to a height 52 meters, for reasons best known to the government.
Not just Congress, but other opposition parties also raised the issue of the fire. Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi MLA and MP state co-in charge Pravin Deshmukh, while accusing the BJP government of covering up scams through fire, demanded a judicial probe.
BSP MP and MP state’s in-charge Ramji Gautam said, “Satpura was burning, while those in power were smiling, because files related to nursing colleges, COVID spending and other scams were burning.”
Rubbishing Congress and other opposition parties’ allegations, the state government’s official spokesperson and home minister Narottam Mishra said, “It seems the Congress is yet to realize that we’re living in the digital era. The files damaged by the fire can be recreated from the data in the hard disc and pen drives. Also, most schemes are central government-aided schemes, hence getting back-up of the lost data will be easier.”
The minister added that none of the destroyed files were related to tenders or purchases, so where does the question of files related to irregularities getting burnt arise.
He also said that the hydraulic aerial platform machine couldn’t be used for fire-fighting as the passage inside the Satpura Bhawan premises wasn’t enough for it.
“I’ve seen at least 34 fire tenders engaged in dousing the fire till Monday night. Even IAF aircrafts in Gwalior were ready to fly to Bhopal to douse the fire. A high-level committee of top bureaucrats and a police officer has been formed by the CM to probe all aspects of the blaze and asked to submit its report in 3 days. Also, the CM has directed all concerned to engage experts from major cities, including Mumbai to devise systems in all major cities of MP, to prevent recurrence of such fires.”
Importantly, thousands of government files have been reportedly gutted in the fire on the four top floors of Satpura Bhawan building (located close to the state secretariat-Vallabh Bhawan).
The fire, which was possibly triggered due to an electric short circuit in one of the air-conditioners on the third floor (which houses the regional office of tribal welfare department) at around 4 pm, spread fast to the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the six-storied building.
“More than 50 fire tenders from various parts of Bhopal and adjoining Raisen district, helped us control the fire by midnight, but the fire was completely doused in around 17 hours by 9 am on Tuesday. Had it not been high-velocity winds on Monday afternoon, we would’ve controlled the fire by Monday evening only,” the Bhopal Municipal Corporation’s fire officer Rameshwar Meel told this newspaper.
The government departments whose offices were located on the four floors, included the regional office of tribal welfare department and offices of health and family welfare department. Fortunately, around 4000 employees were rescued in time from the fire-hit building.
“Holiday was declared for all employees working at the Satpura Bhawan. By Tuesday evening, the offices will be shifted for time being to alternative places to ensure that work on those offices resumes by Wednesday,” the home minister said.
