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Short circuit caused fire at UPAG office building in Prayagraj: Report
A five-member team probing the fire incident in its report mentions about anomalies in installation of fire-fighting equipment in the UPAG office building in Prayagraj
The five-member team constituted by chief minister Yogi Adityanath to probe July 17 fire incident at UP advocate general’s office (UPAG) at Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar building opposite the Allahabad high court here has cited short circuit as the cause of fire in its report sent to the government on Monday (July 25). The probe team was constituted on the day of incident itself. None was injured in the fire incident.
The report mentions the anomalies in installation of equipment in the building on the basis of which action may be taken against the officials of the agency responsible for construction of the building. Further action will be taken as per instructions of the government, officials aware of the report said.
The fire had broken out on the sixth floor of UPAG office which soon spread to seventh, eighth and ninth floors. Firefighters had a tough time containing the fire and it took around 12 hours in dousing the fire completely with the help of the army.
To probe the causes of fire, the CM had constituted a five-member team comprising ADM (city) Madan Kumar; SP (city) Dinesh Kumar Singh; deputy director, power security, Shatrudhan Singh; additional legal remembrance (LR) (legal cell), Prayagraj, Radhey Mohan Srivastava and chief fire officer RK Pandey. The committee was to function under the guidance of district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri and senior superintendent of police Shailesh Pandey.
The team carried out a thorough investigation to find out the reason for the fire. The team surveyed first to fifth floors of the building but as the other floors have been affected due to fire too, the condition of equipment used there is still not clear. The team in its enquiry found that short circuit was the cause of fire and the building was not adequately equipped with fire safety gadgets.
There were anomalies in installation of electrical equipment and no safety measures were taken, the probe report said. The report said loss worth several crores had been caused due to fire but exact loss was still to be determined. The cleaning work of the floors affected by fire was started on Tuesday following which investigation about the exact loss and negligence will be initiated.
Meanwhile, the first to fifth floors of UPAG building will soon be opened after restoration of power supply and installation of electrical equipment. Fire safety equipment will also be re-installed at the building.
District magistrate Sanjay Khatri said the report of the findings had been forwarded to the state government. “Instructions have been issued for restoration of power supply and fire safety equipment from first to fifth floor following which it will be opened for work,” he added.
Caption: The UP advocate general office building on fire. HT file photo
