BHOPAL: A major inferno possibly triggered by an electric short circuit in an air conditioner on Monday afternoon, reportedly gutted entire property on four floors of the multi-storied Satpura Bhawan – one of the buildings housing various government offices in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal.
The fire which originated from the third floor of the government building housing the regional office of the tribal welfare department, soon spread to the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors, gutting property (including important government files) in the office of the health department.
According to a senior Bhopal Police officer, the fire spread fast from the third floor to the upper floors, as the raging inferno came in contact with air conditioners and some gas cylinders, triggering multiple blasts on multiple floors.
However, human casualty or injury was averted, as the building was evacuated in time.
With the available fire tenders and fire brigade personnel, falling short before the raging inferno in the building (located close to the state secretariat or Vallabh Bhawan), firefighters and tenders were pressed into service from areas adjoining Bhopal.
“Fire brigade vehicles have been pressed into service from all around, including those from Airport and industrial town Mandidip in the adjoining Raisen district. While fire has been doused from third to fifth floors, it remains to spread on the sixth floor four hours after it was triggered,” a police officer told this newspaper.
While the MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan kept monitoring the progress of the firefighting operations, the opposition Congress smelt a rat in the inferno.
Former union minister and ex-state Congress president Arun Yadav and former MP minister PC Sharma tweeted, “While our leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked the government over scams while launching the party’s poll campaign in Jabalpur, back in Bhopal, the major inferno gutted all major government files. Have files related to major scams been burnt to ashes in the fire as part of some conspiracy. This fire is indicating change about to happen in MP.”