The fire department, Nainital, has issued notice to the Raj Bhawan secretariat in Nainital and some other offices for not following requisite fire safety norms.
"Though the main Raj Bhawan building is following fire safety norms as the officials concerned claim, the building housing the Raj Bhawan secretariat, joint secretary office, information office, power house, pilot room, to name a few, are not under proper fire safety norms," said Pangiri Goswami, Fire Safety Officer, Nainital fire department, while talking to The Pioneer.
"We had asked the officials concerned in this regard much earlier to install fire hydrants and fire extinguishers in these offices premises. Though some of the fire safety measures like installation of the fire extinguishers have been taken, fire hydrants are yet to be installed in the buildings housing the Raj Bhawan secretariat and other offices," Goswami said.
"Taking necessary precautions is vital to deal with any eventuality," he maintained. Despite necessary fire safety measures taken, the fire engulfed some portion of the main Raj Bhawan in Nainital on Tuesday afternoon. And it took fire
fighters about two hours to control the blaze.
However, no untoward incident occurred due to this fire incident in the historic Raj Bhawan, Nainital, officials concerned said.
Currently, some renovation works are being carried out in the Raj Bhawan. Though the actual cause behind this Raj Bhawan fire incident in Nainital will be known only after the enquiry report becomes public (the local Nainital district administration has ordered an enquiry into this incident), as the preliminary investigation has suggested due to use of a heating torch in this renovation works led to this fire incident.
Though necessary fire safety norms have been adopted as the officials concerned claim to protect the historic Raj Bhawan in Nainital, locals here are of the view that excessive use of wooden works in such historic buildings always makes them more sensitive to external factors like fire.
Engulfing of the entire Nainital collectorate building a couple of years ago only gives that impression. Although fire safety norms were adopted as the officials concerned claimed, yet the historic collectorate structure fitted with wooden works
collapsed in the blaze.