THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Special Investigation Team led by ADGP (Headquarters) Manoj Abraham probing the fire incident in Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram will submit the report on the findings to the state government after getting the reports from chief electrical officer and forensic department. Sources said the police team would submit the report within two days once the forensic and electrical officer’s reports are submitted to the probe team.
Manoj Abraham told TNIE that the team could submit the report once the reports from forensic and electrical officers are ready. “We are waiting for the report. As soon as we get the report, we will submit the final report to the government in the coming days,” he said. According to the officer, as many as 10,000 pages of various files had been partially burnt. He said, however, all the destroyed files have equivalent soft copies in the e-file system.
“Though many of the files were burnt, there is nothing to worry as all the lost files have e-copies,” Abraham said. The categorisation of files are in progress with the help of 13 officers from various departments. The team said all the files are pertaining to the government notifications to various departments. The team had also scanned the damaged files to store safely in the e-file system.The fire broke out at the protocol division of the General Administration department on August 25, in which several office files were gutted.
It occurred at a time when the working of the protocol office was under the scanner after it emerged that officials here had made lapses while dealing with diplomatic baggage destined for the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.The fire was first noted in one of the computers by 5 pm. Shortly, it engulfed a portion of the office. Due to Covid-related restrictions, only two employees were present there at that time.
Though the fire was doused within 15 minutes, the files stored in racks nearby were gutted. The incident triggered strong reactions from opposition parties, who claimed that the fire outbreak was staged to sabotage the ongoing probe into gold smuggling case.