KOTTAYAM: A major fire that broke out at the branch of a prominent bank in Kottayam town on Thursday morning, spelt grave damage to the bank and its accoutrement.
The police said that fire was noticed at the first floor of the building near the CMS college, where a branch of State Bank of Travancore (SBT) functions, at around 6 AM on Thursday.
According to officials, though the cash and gold kept in the bank are safe as the fire didn’t affect the strong room, the entire equipment including computers, office machines, and files were gutted in fire.
Personnel from the Fire Safety and Rescue Forces, Kottayam unit rushed to the spot and doused the fire by 7.45 AM.
The fire is suspected to have been caused by a short circuit.
According to an official at the bank, the cash deposits on Wednesday were shifted to Cash Chest branch in the evening itself and no valuables were destroyed in the fire.
“Since, we keep the details of our customers in a core banking system, the fire didn’t destroy the transaction details till the date. However, it created a serious damage to infrastructure in the bank, which was completed gutted,” he said.
Meanwhile, the incident resulted in inconvenience to the customers as it occurred at a time when they were scurrying to exchange and withdraw their money from the bank.