CM Sarbananda Sonowal orders Assam Secretariat fire incident inquiry

GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal directed to set up a 24x7 control room at Janata Bhawan to deal with emergency situations like fire and install one way or single-pole electrical switch in each of the blocks of the Secretariat. The Chief Minister directed this while reviewing the fire incident that broke out at Janata Bhawan last night at his office conference room here today.

The Chief Minister entrusted Secretary of General Administration Department Gurudutta Laskar to inquire into the fire incident and submit report with recommendations for upgrading the arrangements for mitigation of fire and emergency situations at Janata Bhawan.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister asked the officials to expeditiously install CCTV at Janata Bhawan campus, early completion of electrical audit of the buildings, reduction of files and developing a mechanism for disposal of old files that are piled up in different departments for several years etc. He also directed to take steps for augmenting skills of the security and monitoring staff working at Janata Bhawan and review their performance every three months.

The Chief Minister further instructed the Fire & Emergency Department to keep itself fully prepared with hydraulic trolleys and modern equipments to control fire and other crisis situations in the State. He also asked the department to hold a meeting with real estate entrepreneurs to sensitize them on the need for installation of modern fire fighting equipments at the private apartment buildings in the city.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna today visited the incident site as per direction of the Chief Minister and took stock of the damage. Noteworthy that while the fire broke out last night at around 9:30, an ASI of SB of Assam Police Hareswar Das in association with Additional DCP Chitren Kumar Gogoi who is posted at security wing of the capital complex doused the fire within five minutes. Chief Minister's Legal Adviser Santanu Bharali, Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna, CM's Principal Secretary Sanjay Lohiya, Commissioner & Secretary of GAD Dr. M Angamuthu and others were present at the meeting, a press release said.

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