DoT orders probe into fires at MTNL, BSNL buildings

A fire was also reported in MTNL’s Kidwai Telephone Exchange building in New Delhi on Monday morning, while another fire was reported in the BSNL building in Salt lake in Kolkata in the evening.

In the wake of a blaze at a Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) building in Bandra on Monday, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the ministry of communications on Tuesday ordered a high-level enquiry into the fires at MTNL and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) buildings across the country.

While there were no casualties at Bandra, the three-hour operation involved rescuing 84 people. Most were trapped on the rooftop of the 10-storey building. (HT Photo)

While there were no casualties, the three-hour rescue operation at Bandra, where 84 people were trapped on the rooftop of the ten-storey building, was one of the biggest carried out by the Mumbai Fire Brigade. The smoke engulfed the entire building and area in the vicinity up to 500m, even covering the railway station.

A fire was also reported in MTNL’s Kidwai Telephone Exchange building in New Delhi on Monday morning. Another fire was reported in the BSNL building in Salt lake in Kolkata on Monday evening.

A press release issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Monday stated: “Minister of communications, electronics, and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has ordered a high-level inquiry by MTNL and BSNL into the fire incidents.”

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Fire Brigade managed to bring the fire under control at 12.55pm on Tuesday. Cooling operations to douse any remaining embers in the furniture in the building went on till 8.15pm.

According to MTNL, the most recent fire audit of the Bandra building was conducted on July 12, and the building was found to be fire compliant.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade said the fire destroyed office cabins, office records, furniture, server room, windows, doors, batteries, steel racks, electric wiring, electric switch gears, aluminium partitions, false ceiling, steel furniture such as chairs, tables computers on the second, third, fifth, seventh and eighth floors.

The fire damaged MTNL’s equipment, affecting 25,000 landline and broadband services in Bandra and Khar, on Monday and Tuesday.

A spokesperson from MTNL said, “It will take up to seven to eight days for MTNL services to be restored.”