CM's office gutted in Mantralaya fire, 3 killed, 16 injured

June 21, 2012

killed

Mumbai, June 21: A devastating fire in the Maharashtra government secretariat, including offices of the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, today left three persons dead and 16 injured and destroyed large number of files, raising questions on whether any sabotage was the cause.

Fire brigade officials said two bodies were recovered from the sixth floor of the seven-storey 'Mantralaya'. While one body was found in the committee room of the Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's office, another was found in the nearby waiting hall.

The fire, which erupted at around 2.45 pm and was still raging late tonight, is believed to have resulted in the destruction of files in several departments including that of Urban Development which is in the eye of the Adarsh housing scam involving several top politicians, bureaucrats and ex-army officials.

While announcing an inquiry by the Crime Branch into the fire, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said there were backup files on being asked whether important documents had been lost in the fire. He said that 3.18 crore pages from 2.27 lakh files were scanned and thus safe.

CBI also sought to allay apprehensions about files on Adarsh scam being destroyed, saying they have copies of all the relevant documents.

"We had taken all documents required as part of investigations from the state government last year itself soon after registration of the FIR. Even hard drives from the computers in various departments like the Urban Development department were seized by us last year," a senior CBI officer said. Asked by reporters whether it could be an act of sabotage, the Chief Minister said, "We don't want to jump to any conclusion. The Crime Branch will probe the incident."

The BJP wanted the sabotage angle to be probed. "We need the truth to come out and justice to be delivered to those widows of Kargil, for whom that land was allotted," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.

The fire was first noticed on the fourth floor near the office of Tribal Welfare Minister Babanrao Pachpute, soon spreading over to the upper floors, aided by the sea breeze. The fourth floor also houses the urban development department.

The fire spread to the fifth and sixth floors in the seven-storeyed 'Mantralaya'. Extensive damage was also caused to the offices of CM and his deuputy on the sixth floor.

According to Relief and Rehabilitation Secretary Pravin Pardeshi, 65 people trapped on the fifth and sixth floor were evacuated by the fire-fighters.

Two helicopters of the Indian Navy were pressed into service to evacuate those trapped inside the building but returned without any success as nobody could be found on the terrace of the building in south Mumbai.

Contingents of the anti-terror force--Force One and Quick Response Teams of Mumbai police assisted the fire brigade in trying to bring the blaze under control.

Pardeshi said nearly 3000 government employees and as many visitors were removed safely after the blaze started.

Relief and rehabilitation Minister Patangrao Kadam admitted that the government had never anticipated such a major fire at the seat of Maharashtra administration and added that the damage caused to the building would be assessed soon.

Chavan, Pawar and Home Minister R R Patil supervised the rescue efforts.

Pardeshi said the fire was first noticed in an electrical fuse and soon a general alarm was sounded across Mantralaya asking people to rush out.

By 3 pm everybody, barring the 65 trapped due to "ballooning" of the smoke, had been evacuated, he said.

Those hospitalised included Chief Minister's Public Relations Officer Satish Lalit, PROs in Deputy CM's office Vishal Dhage and Sanjay Deshmukh and state Home Minister's PRO Kishore Gangurde. All of them had inhaled the smoke, he said.

Electric supply to the building was stopped.

"Video recording of the entire buildings will take place. Senior officials, including secretaries, will inspect the damage," the chief minister said.

No official work will be carried out in Mantralaya tomorrow, and all meetings scheduled have been cancelled, he said.

Meanwhile, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said that fire brigade received the first call informing about the blaze at 2:46 PM, following which 3 fire engines, 2 water tankers, and an ambulance were rushed to the spot.

The injured persons have been admitted to various hospitals, including 11 at JJ and St George, 3 at G T and 2 at Nair hospital.

Some of them have suffered suffocation, while others have sustained minor injuries to hands and legs, J J Hospital dean Dr T P Lahane said.

There were around 2,500 Mantralaya staffers in the building, apart from around 2,000 visitors when the fire broke out, a Mantralaya official said.

The Mantralaya building typically houses around 8,000 employees on a normal working day.

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News Network
July 14,2020

Kathmandu, Jul 14: After staking claim to Indian territories of Lipulekh-Kalapani in  a new controversial map,  Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Monday claimed that Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, is in Nepal and Lord Rama was Nepali.

“Although real Ayodhya lies at Thori, city in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed that Lord Rama was born there. Due to these continuous claims, even we have believed that deity Sita got married to Prince Rama of India. However, in reality, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj,” Oli claimed at an event organised at Prime Minister's residence in Kathmandu.

The Prime Minister also blamed India of cultural encroachment by “creating a fake Ayodhya.”

“Balmiki Ashram is in Nepal and the holy place where King Dashrath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi. Dashrath’s son Ram was not an Indian and Ayodhya is also in Nepal,” he claimed.

In an attempt to save self from criticism, Oli questioned how Lord Rama could come to Janakpur to marry Sita when there were "no means" of communication. He further said that it to be impossible for Lord Rama to come to Janakpur from present Ayodhya that lies in India.

“Janakpur lies here and Ayodhya there and there is talk of marriage. There was neither telephone nor mobile then how could he know about Janakpur,” Oli said.

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Ahmed Ali Kulai
 - 
Tuesday, 14 Jul 2020

New controversy

 
BJP got next election Muddah

Farhan
 - 
Tuesday, 14 Jul 2020

Ab Ram Mandir Kaha Banega???

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News Network
January 31,2020

Jan 31: Twenty-three children aged between six months and 15 years, who had been taken hostage by a murder accused after inviting them to his daughter's birthday party, were rescued late on Thursday night after police killed their captor in a village here.

The hostage drama began at Kasaria village in the afternoon and continued for about eight hours.

"The accused was killed and there were about 23 children who were rescued safely," Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi told reporters at a hurriedly called press conference at 1.20 am.

"The accused had invited the children for the birthday party of his daughter and held them hostage. It started about 5.45 pm on January 30 and continued for about eight hours," Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh said, adding that in the entire operation they had tried to "engage" the accused and were successful.

He said the accused, identified as Subhash Batham, had initially released a six-month-old girl by handing her over to his neighbour from a balcony.

Eyewitnesses said a restive crowd gathered outside the house where the children were kept with some women wailing and praying for their safe release.

The crowd broke open the door of the house to rescue the children, they said.

As the accused opened fire, the police retaliated killing him on the spot.

In the exchange of fire, the captor's wife was injured, but none of the children suffered any injury.

A man and two policemen also suffered bullet injuries.

The motive of the accused was not known immediately.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath monitored the situation in Farrukhabad, which is nearly 200 km from state capital Lucknow.

"The CM as soon as he got to know about the incident called a meeting of the crisis management group and personally monitored the situation and ensured children are rescued safely," Awasthi said.

Earlier, a team of NSG (National Security Guard) commandos had taken a special aircraft to reach Farukhabad, a senior security official in Delhi said.

Police said Batham, a murder accused, seemed to be mentally unstable.

Inspector-General of Police, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal, said, "The man called the children for a birthday party and held them hostage in the basement of the house. He fired six shots from inside the building."

Batham initially wanted to talk to the local MLA, but refused to speak to the leader when he arrived, Agarwal said.

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News Network
June 29,2020

New Delhi, Jun 29: India recorded 19,459 new coronavirus cases and 380 deaths in the last 24 hours.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday, the total coronavirus cases in the country stands at 5,48,318 including 2,10,120 active cases, 3,21,723 cured/discharged/migrated and 16,475 deaths.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 count touched 1,64,626 and cases in Delhi have reached 83,077.

The total number of samples tested up to 28 June is 83,98,362 of which 1,70,560 samples were tested yesterday, as per the data provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). 

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