CHENNAI: State Bank of India (SBI) Chief General Manager (Chennai Circle) PS Prakash Rao, who was present at the spot during the fire fighting operation, appealed to customers having accounts in the branches operating out of SBI Heritage Building, not to panic as no data was lost in the fire.
There was no loss of life, property especially that of customers, and data in the fire, he observed.
Speaking to Express, Rao clarified that no sensitive or crucial document was destroyed in the fire and such documents present were kept in fire proof cabinets in the building which could be retrieved from the debris.
“Only routine documents like correspondence and circulars could have been destroyed besides the furniture and computers which were in use. However, that will in no way hamper the transactions or the accounts of customers”, he pointed out.
“SBI is operating in Core Banking Solutions (CBS) platform wherein every transaction made is being updated on real-time basis besides a real-time back up of the updated data”, he reiterated.
According to him there were fire safety measures present in the building and that there was a fire alarm which was activated by the smoke detectors. “The guards even attempted to put out the fire, but abandoned their effort after it turned into a heavy blaze”, he said.
Asked about the extent of damage, Rao maintained that they were yet to ascertain it. Earlier, shopkeepers in Burma Bazaar too had expressed apprehensions about loss of valuable documents in the fire.