A minor fire broke out at ‘North Sandwich Block’ of Kerala Secretariat on Tuesday. The fire was reported near Industries Minister P Rajeev's office on the third floor.
According to PTI, a senior officer said: “The blaze started in the AC unit in the area and an electrical short circuit was suspected as the reason.”
No casualty was reported and the blaze was contained within some minutes by the fire force personnel who rushed to the spot, they said, as per the report. Till now, it is unclear whether any files were destroyed in the fire.
Following the incident, Thiruvananthapuram district Collector and top officials rushed to the spot and identified the cause of the fire. The officials said that an electric short circuit was the reason for the fire. The police have also registered a case.
Meanwhile, the fire broke out when the Congress-led Opposition is in arms against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala Law Minister P Rajeev. The Opposition has named the CM and Minister in alleged AI camera scam.
The opposition has been questioning the manner in which state public sector Keltron handled the issue, which they allege is around Rs 100 crore.
Incidentally, the fire broke a day after Income Tax officials conducted an inspection at the office of Keltron - which was the implementing agency in the project of installing AI cameras for the Transport Department.
A similar incident was reported in 2020. The fire broke out when gold smuggling case in which Swapna Suresh, the prime accused who had links with top officials, came to light in 2020.
The fire was reported in the same block which led to the destruction of valuable files and electronic goods.
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(With IANS inputs)