Massive Fire On Third Floor Of Madhya Pradesh Secretariat, None Hurt

A major fire broke out on the third floor of a building in the Madhya Pradesh secretariat complex 'Vallabh Bhawan' here on Saturday morning, but no one was injured and the flames were extinguished after five hours, officials said.

Personnel of the Army, National Disaster Response Force and police firefighters joined the municipal fire brigade in fire-dousing operation.

It being a Saturday, the government offices inside were closed and the premises were almost empty when the fire broke out around 9.30 am, sources said.

While Chief Minister Mohan Yadav directed officials to take necessary steps to prevent such incidents in the future, state Congress chief Jitu Patwari claimed it was a "conspiracy" to destroy the evidence of corruption.

Patwari and Leader of Opposition in the assembly Umang Sarang staged a sit-in outside the secretariat for a couple of hours, seeking a CBI probe into the fire.

"The fire has almost been put out," the Bhopal Municipal Corporation's Fire Officer Rameshwar Neel told PTI around 3 pm.

Around 40 to 50 fire tenders and water bowsers (tankers) including a few from the Army fought the blaze, he said.

Asked if sacks containing papers lying on the secretariat premises had been removed before the fire started, Neel said he had no information in that regard.

Some sanitation workers near gates 5 and 6 noticed smoke coming from the building around 9.30 am and alerted authorities, sources said.

"I was in Bhopal, and I learnt that a fire has broken out on the third floor of the old building of Vallabh Bhawan. I sought information from the collector and asked the chief secretary to monitor the situation. The fire has been brought under control," chief minister Yadav told reporters.

"A directive has been issued to (take steps to) prevent such incidents and ensure that no papers and no important files are destroyed. I hope that such incidents do not recur," he added.

Patwari claimed this was the fifth incident of fire at Vallabh Bhawan since the BJP came to power in 2003.

"Which files have been burnt? Of which departments?" the Congress leader asked in a statement, alleging that the fire was a "conspiracy" of the BJP government steeped in "corruption, indebtedness and crime" to destroy the evidence.

State BJP spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi dismissed Patwari's tirade, stating that the opposition party has not established a single charge of corruption in all these years and it should instead look at the record of the UPA government.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)