The fire department has recommended installation of fire alarms and water sprinklers in all rooms of the New Secretariat where a fire gutted several rooms on Friday.

Officials of the fire department - who met representatives of the public works department, responsible for the upkeep of the building, on Monday morning - also want a dedicated team of fire-fighting personnel for the 13-storeyed Strand Road edifice and training for the employees in evacuation during an emergency.

The recommendations are an indirect acceptance of the fact that New Secretariat - 1 Kiran Shankar Roy Road - lacked fire safety measures.

Fire officers while dousing the blaze on Friday discovered that the building that houses some of the key departments of the state government lacked some of the basic fire safety gear, such as smoke alarms and water sprinklers.

Subsequent inspections by the fire department, public works department and the police revealed glaring loopholes in the fire-fighting preparedness of the building.

Many senior officials said off the record that had such lapses been detected at a private establishment, the authorities would have been within their rights to "shut the business" and "initiate a case".

"We would have been within our rights to shut down the business and lodge a police complaint against the owners and occupiers of that establishment. But it is different in the case of a government building, especially one that houses the offices of several ministers," an official said.

At Chatterjee International Centre, where a fire had broken out last September, the occupants had to state in writing that they would implement the safety measures suggested by the fire department within a stipulated time.

Eight directors of the AMRI Hospitals had to spend different periods in custody after their Dhakuria unit caught fire in December 2011, resulting in 90 deaths.

There is no word yet on whether any action would be taken against anyone for the lapses at the New Secretariat.

Inspections have revealed that none of the rooms in the New Secretariat had fire alarms and water sprinklers. Most of the fire extinguishers had been due for a refill a couple of years ago.

"Some of the hydrants were rusted, which made it clear that they were not used for years," said the official.

The design of the building and the floors were not available anywhere.

On Friday, the 55m-long Bronto Skylift had to return after one hour because it could not enter the building premises because of inadequate "headspace".

The fire department has recommended that the size of at least one of the three big gates be increased further to let in a hydraulic ladder and big fire engines.

"We want to put in place a standard operating procedure. It is a huge building but nobody knows what to do when a fire breaks out," said a senior fire department officer.

A PWD engineer said they would prepare a report and send it to PWD minister Shankar Chakraborty. "I have sought a report. I will comment after seeing it," Chakraborty said when Metro got in touch with him.