Fire brigade officials douse flames in a storeroom of the home department in the state secretariat in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

Panic gripped the secretariat following the accident in which some of the old files and stationery were gutted.

"Prima facie, the fire seemed to have been caused by an electrical short circuit. We have asked for a formal report from the fire service organisation," said home secretary Asit Tripathy.

No casualty or injury has been reported, nor any major damage has taken place, he said.

A home department employee said workers, who had come to repair the air-conditioner, first noticed the smoke billowing out from the storeroom.

An officer at the fire station located adjacent to the secretariat said they were informed about the fire around 10.55am. "A fire brigade was rushed to the spot, and it doused the fire within 15 minutes," he said.

The fire was extinguished after the door of the storeroom was broken open.

This was not the solitary fire mishap that took place in the secretariat. On June 16 last year, a major fire had broken out at the building's panchayati raj department. Though no casualties were reported in this incident, but almost all the important files, furniture and computers were gutted in the fire. The office room belonged to the private secretary to the panchayati raj secretary.

Besides, two years ago, a fire had broken out at the health and family welfare department, destroying some official documents and furniture.

There was also a major fire mishap at Rajiv Bhavan, an annexure building of the secretariat, completely gutting the conference hall of water resources department on April 27 last year. Such frequent mishaps had prompted the state government to set up a fire station near the state secretariat.

Text by Subrat Das
Picture by Ashwinee Pati