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9 rooms, files gutted in fire at transport dept office in Civil Lines
New Delhi
New Delhi
A major fire broke out at an office of the transport department at Under Hill Road near Civil Lines in north Delhi on Monday morning, damaging at least nine rooms and some files. Senior officers said that the fire started from a server room on the first floor and spread to the second floor. Twenty-six fire tenders and at least 100 fire fighters doused the blaze in an operation that went on for over an hour-and-a-half. No one was injured in the fire, officers said. Officers from the transport department said, all important records of the transport department are safe.
Director, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) Atul Garg said they received a call reporting the fire at 8.38am. Garg said as the fire was at an important government building, eight fire tenders were rushed immediately.
“Our team that reached the spot found that the fire had started from a server room on the first floor. As fire had already spread to a room and a hall next to the server room, we pressed in more fire tenders. We managed to douse the fire by 10 am, but by then the fire had damaged eight rooms on the first floor and one on the second floor,” Garg said.
The director said no one was injured in the incident as the office was yet to open for work.
Special commissioner (transport) KK Dahiya said the fire had occurred only in one portion of the transport headquarters. “The main damage has been at the central operations command and control (OCC) centre where public service vehicles were tracked live through GPS. As per the preliminary report, the fire started from the diary and dispatch section and it soon spread to adjoining six-seven rooms, including the OCC,” he said.
“Spaces which involved dealing with general public were back in operations. Normal public services were resumed after lunch. Electricity was shut in the first half of the day for safety reasons. Additional chief secretary Renu Sharma has directed the special commissioner (transport) to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the fire incident and probe the damage to files and data,” Dahiya said.
All important records of the transport department are safe and no office of any senior officer was burnt. Preliminary findings indicate that files pertaining to only the planning branch and secretariat (policy) branch were affected, the official said.
Meanwhile, the BJP alleged that there could be a conspiracy behind the fire incident. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari tweeted, “They cannot escape by burning details of wrongdoings at the government office.”
