Firemen douse the flames at the Bank of Baroda branch at Shahid Chowk in Katihar. Telegraph picture

Katihar, March 3: A fire broke out in the main branch of the Bank of Baroda on the first floor of Abbas Katra building at Shahid Chowk around 7am today.

Immediately after the fire was doused, a preliminary probe was conducted by the bank officials to ascertain the damage occurred because of the fire.

The branch manager of the bank, Arvind Kumar Mandal, told The Telegraph that it would be difficult to say anything about the damage now.

“As far as our assumption is concerned and according to the list of damages we have prepared, the loss could be around Rs 18-20 lakh,” he added. Mandal reached the site of the incident at 7.30am after employees of a hotel near the bank informed him about the fire that had engulfed the bank. The police are yet to lodge an FIR because bank officers have not prepared the final list of damage yet.

Though all computers were charred data were not lost because of the core banking system through which banks are inter-connected. The entire lease of the branch was stored at the regional branch at Patna.

However, Mandal said he had informed higher authorities, who were likely to come to conduct a damage assessment report.

Sources said the bank had reportedly made a list of loss comprising furniture, computers, fans, and printers so far.

The joint manager of the bank, Dipak Srivastava said there was no loss of either cash or documents so far. He added lockers of the bank were also safe.

At the time of the incident, there was no security guard was present at the bank. Sources said there was no night guard either.

District magistrate and collector Ashwini D. Thakre told The Telegraph that a probe would be conducted into the incident.