Fire breaks out in lobby area of J&K assembly

Hindustan Times

a day ago

A fire broke out inside the lobby area of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly complex here on Wednesday causing significant damage to the property that reportedly included photographs of former governors, lieutenant governors, speakers, chief ministers and best legislators.
Incharge secretary of the legislative assembly, Manoj Kumar Pandit said, 'A fire broke out around 9 am in the lobby, probably due to a short circuit. According to preliminary information, some two to three sofas and photographs were damaged in it.'
'No FIR has been lodged as yet. However, we have our own police within the secretariat,' he added.
However, a senior police official at the civil secretariat said that they do not have executive powers to take cognisance of such incidents. 'Cognisance of such incidents has to be taken by the local police following complaint lodged by the victim. We are here for the purpose of security,' he said.
The secretary of J&K's law, justice and parliamentary affairs department, Achal Sethi, said, 'We received preliminary reports of a fire incident in the lobby of J&K legislative assembly secretariat, probably due to a short circuit. I had sent some officers there to assess the situation. We have also sought a report from the assembly secretariat.'
However, the law secretary feigned ignorance about any FIR having been lodged with the police.
The fire also gutted several chairs, and other infrastructure, reportedly worth lakh of rupees.
Officials divulged that two fire tenders were rushed to the spot to extinguish the fire. No casualties were reported in the incident.
It may be stated here that just before the Budget session held here in March this year, the assembly complex had undergone a repair and renovation work at a cost of over ₹2 crore.
'During the repair and renovation works, photographs of former governors, LGs, speakers, CMs, Dy CMs and MLAs were removed from the walls of the lobby,' said an official, who declined to be named.
The move had invited the ire of chief minister Omar Abdullah during his visit to the assembly complex before Budget session, he added.
'After Omar expressed his displeasure, the photographs were reinstalled but majority of them were burnt in the fire incident today,' he said.
The official stated that in the past one year and a half, four fire incidents took place but no inquiry report has seen the light of the day.
'An old building of the MLAs hostel in Srinagar was burnt in a fire incident followed by two similar fire incidents at MLA hostel at Jammu and new building of the MLAs in Srinagar. Today's incident was fourth in the past one year and a half. In all the three previous incidents, inquiries were mere eye-wash and violative of laid procedures and delegation of powers', he said.
The official informed that inquiries in such incidents have to be ordered by general administration department (GAD), which appoints IAS or JKAS officers to conduct the probe.
The probe has to be independent and it should not be conducted by the department itself where any incident or lapse has taken place, he said.
The official confided that the past three inquiries ordered by incharge secretary J&K legislative assembly secretariat have not seen the light of the day.
'Further, they were conducted by a deputy secretary of the legislative assembly secretariat which had two non-gazetted officers as members, one of them an employee of the watch and ward staff,' he said.
While in-charge secretary legislative assembly secretariat assured to look into violation of rules, a top official of the law department admitted that corrective measures were urgently needed.
Repeated calls and messages to the commissioner secretary GAD, M Raju went unanswered.