Massive fire breaks out at Bangladesh Secretariat, official documents damaged

A massive fire broke out at a major building of the Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka on Thursday, damaging official documents that prompted authorities to form a high-powered investigation committee amid suspicions that it could be an act of sabotage.

The fire broke out in Building 7 of the Bangladesh Secretariat and it was brought under control after nearly six hours of firefighting efforts.

According to officials, the fire broke out Thursday early morning in the nine-storey building housing seven ministries inside the high-security complex.

However, no casualties were reported.

“The fire broke out in three spots (of the building) simultaneously hours after midnight yesterday,” fire service chief Brigadier General Zahed Kamal told newsmen indicating it might not be an accidental inferno.

Officials said a power outage caused by the fire forced as well other ministries apart from the building to halt their normal work while security agencies restricted entry inside the complex preventing many staff and officials from entering into the complex at the central part of the capital.

They said most rooms on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors of building no 7 were severely damaged while a huge volume of documents from the local government and post & telecommunications ministries were burnt alongside the furniture.

“The water used to douse the fire also damaged many documents...pigeons which made different parts of the building were seen dead and window spans were broken,” an official said after visiting the building.

Local government adviser or de facto minister Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan, a leader of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement that led the ouster of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime on August 5 said, “The conspirators have not stopped their activities”

He said the documents which were damaged included papers and proofs of corruption of millions of dollars during the ousted Awami League regime.

“But no one will be given a single inch pace to escape (punitive actions) if found involved to fail us,” said Bhuiyan.

Meanwhile, authorities formed a seven-member committee comprising senior civil bureaucrats, fire service and police officers.

The committee, headed by Additional Secretary (district and field administration) Mohammad Khaled Rahim, was asked to submit its report within seven working days.

The probe panel has been tasked with finding out the source and cause of the fire, uncovering whether anyone had personal or professional responsibility for it, and making recommendations to prevent such accidents, said an office order of the Cabinet Division.