Big fire in cyber cell building of police, but tragedy averted

BHOPAL: More than a 100 people had a close shave when a major fire broke out at cyber cell building of Madhya Pradesh police on Bhadbhada road here on Thursday morning.
A thick smoke started billowing out of multi-storeyed glass building around 11 am. The building was immediately vacated. Teams from BMC's fire department and Madhya Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority rushed to the spot.It took them over an hour to bring the situation under control. Senior officials, including director general of police, also reached the spot. Fire-fighters broke around two dozen window panes to get access to the affected area.
There were no reports of anyone getting injured in the incident. Officials denied any damage to important files in fire. The cyber cell building is a considered a high tech office of state police with a number of computers on every floor. There is no clarity on any damage to the office computers. Though the exact cause of fire was yet to be ascertained, officials believed it could be due to short circuit. The fire broke out at a meeting hall and an adjoining room on the third floor of the office. Office furniture and other goods were damaged in the incident. Chamber of special DG, cyber cell, is also on the same floor. Two floors of the building were affected in the fire.
The incident has put a question mark on the fire fighting system in the cyber cell building, which otherwise appears an upscale office with all top facilities. It also has a dedicated server room. Officials said power supply was suspended in the building for some time. However, when the supply was resumed there was a short circuit probably due to high voltage, which ultimately led to the incident.
A case was later registered at Kamla Nagar police station of the city. After the fire was doused computers on other floors of the building were checked, but they could not start due to an electric snag, officials added. B Maria Kumar, Special DG, Cyber Cell, said the fire caused minor damage to the office property.