Bhopal's Satpura Bhawan Fire: The Politics & Economics You Must Know Ahead of MP Polls

A massive fire broke out in Satpura Bhawan, which houses government offices, Bhopal on Monday evening at around 4 pm.

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Initially, fire broke out on the third floor of the building , reportedly due to a blast in AC and within an hour it spread up to the sixth floor. The wire continued to rage for nearly 12 hours before it could be doused with the help Air Force choppers. Estimated loss may go upto Rs 50 crores.

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Thousands of government files, computers and a large number of records are suspected to be destroyed. It is widely believed that records related to beneficiaries of different schemes have been destroyed in the fire.

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The fire charred several Depatments like-- Tribal, Nursing, Forest & Higher Edu . Notably, 364 nursing colleges are under CBI scanner over eligibility. It is feared the investigation reports, evidence must have been destroyed in the fire.

Notably, this is not the first time fire grappled govt's Satpura Bhawan. On 14 December 2018-- 2 days after the MP Assembly elections declared Congress' win, a massive fire broke out at Satpura Bhawan.

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Congress alleged that the Satpura Fire is govt's attempt to 'hide' the series of corrupt practices ranging from 'Rs 18-Cr renovation scam to oxygen concentrate scam' during Covid. LOP Dr Govind Singh visited Satpura Bhawan and sat on dharna, demanding probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or High Court.

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