Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) : The Satpura Bhawan complex in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, was an open building but the firefighting exercise took a lot of time to douse the flames. If the fire hydrants were made available in this high-rise building, the fire would have been prevented from spreading to the other floors sooner, sources said. Many questions remain unanswered even now.
Due to a lack of fire safety arrangements, it took more than 20 hours to extinguish the fire, said fire safety officers. There are no fire safety alarms, and the fire fighting equipment is just hung on the walls for showpieces. It was said that only one or two fire extinguishers worked while the rest did not. It took time for the fire brigade to take the water pipe up to the fourth floor.
Due to all these reasons, the fire in the Satpura Bhawan building could not be controlled immediately. The BJP government has been in power for the last 19 years, but the fire safety act has not been implemented in the state. One reason is that the government bowing before the builders and other big land mafia. Fire safety laws are being implemented in other states of the country, but not in MP, sources said.
An Air Force vehicle also came to extinguish the fire in the Satpura building, but they could not get water. The same condition remained with the other fire brigades, they also said that if they had a continuous supply of water, they would have controlled the fire early. During questioning by the fire investigation committee, the peon said that on the third floor, when he saw smoke coming from above and a fire started there, he kept the fire extinguisher there and turned on the cylinder but the fire was increasing continuously. The peon said that he saw the sofa was on fire.
The data destroyed in the Satpura building arson will be recovered, but it will take some time, said Minister Narottam Mishra. The inquiry committee will submit the report in three days, and alternative arrangements will be made for the operation of the office, he added. He further said that more than 4 thousand officers and employees working in various offices are found safe after the Satpura building fire.
The Minister said that baseless allegations were being spread by some to take political advantage without trying to extend help when people were in distress. Minister Mishra said that under the continuous monitoring and direction of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, all agencies have worked unitedly to control the flames. Air Force, BHEL, Municipal Corporation, Mantralaya and all the surrounding fire brigades have successfully controlled the fire with coordinated efforts, he added.
Mishra said that there were no documents related to purchasing and tendering in the offices affected by the fire. Regarding other data, he said that the information on state and centrally sponsored schemes will be recovered from the hard disk, he said. Alternative arrangements for the functioning of the offices operating in Satpura Bhawan will be made soon, the Minister said.
