Two incidents of fire reported, no casualty

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 17

A room caught fire at Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in South Block around 3.20 am, according to Delhi Fire Service (DSF) control room in charge Surender Singh Rawat.

Eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the fire was controlled within 20 minutes. The fire had erupted in a room where some documents and one air conditioner was gutted in fire, he said.

No causality was reported from the spot, added Rawat.

In another incident in Southeast Delhi, around 80 jhuggis were gutted when a fire broke out in Batla House, according to a senior DFS official.

According to the residents of the Dhobi Ghat area of the Batla House, the fire started around 11.25 am and it spread within 15 minutes.

A senior fire official said six to seven fire tenders have been rushed to the spot and the fire was brought under control in one hour period.

According to DCP (southeast) Romil Baaniya, there is no report of any casualty so far and the reason of fire is not known yet.

“There are different versions of how it happened. Some people said there was a short circuit,” said a local.

Locals said they had no time to save their belongings. According to a local resident the JJ cluster, Junaid, “I was getting ready for some work and noticed flames flame from nearby jhuggi. I run out with my wife and three children. There was no time to even collect my belongings and now all of it is gutted.”