Mumbai : Exactly two years after a devastating fire in the state secretariat claimed five lives, another fire broke out in the same building.
However, there were no casualties in the fire which broke out at 3.54 pm on the first floor. Although it was a minor fire, it showed that no lessons had been learnt from the earlier inferno.
All the mistakes of the earlier blaze were repeated. The alarm failed to go off and the electrical mains were not switched off in time, even though the fire was caused by a short circuit. The absence of a proper alarm and public address system ignited rumours and triggered panic which resulted in employees rushing out of the building.
Employees said the fire escape route was blocked at several places with cement bags and other construction material. “Had the employees gone through a fire drill, there would have been less panic,’’ said a disaster management official.
Eventually, the fire was put out in six minutes by the fire tender stationed on the premises but several employees preferred not to return to work.
The fire broke out in cabin no 137 outside the office of Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Rajendra Gavit.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil told reporters that the short circuit was a minor glitch. “The defect was rectified by cutting off the exposed wire,” he said.
