20220816 Minor fire breaks out at Kolkata’s iconic Writers’ Buildings
India Aug 16 2022 “Building” “Houses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Minor fire breaks out at Kolkata’s iconic Writers’ Buildings
Updated: 2022-08-16
KOLKATA: A minor fire broke out in Kolkata’s iconic Writers’ Buildings on Tuesday evening, a senior fire official said.
Nobody was injured in the blaze that erupted in a room of the state home department on the ground floor of the Writers’ Buildings in BBD Bag area of central Kolkata around 6 PM, he said.
Three fire tenders were pressed into service and the blaze was doused in around 25 minutes, the official said.
“No damage was caused to the documents at the room of the Foreigners’ Branch of the Home and Hill Affairs Department. Though the exact cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained, it could be due to short circuit,” he said, adding a forensic team was sent to collect samples from the spot.
State Fire Minister Sujit Bose and Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal reached the spot to take stock of the situation.
Sections of a few departments such as Home and Hills and Law departments are housed in the century-old iconic building, which originally served as the principal administrative office for junior clerks of the British East India Company.
Since Independence, the Writers’ Buildings housed the West Bengal chief minister’s office till October 4, 2013 when the ruling Trinamool Congress government initiated a major restoration of the structure. Subsequently, most of the departments were shifted to Nabanna in Howrah.
Web Source: The Times of India