Work of ministries
FROM PAGE 12
recover digital documents and a significant portion of the burnt paper documents can be reproduced if necessary.
The fire ravaged four floors of a Secretariat building, destroying important files, documents, computers, furniture, and other materials from six divisions across five ministries. It also caused significant damage to walls and floors.
The fire was noticed around 1:52am on Thursday in two sections of the nine-storey Building-7 within the highly secured Secretariat complex.
It affected the Road Transport and Highways Division, two divisions under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, and Cooperatives, the Posts and Telecommunications Division, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Nineteen firefighting units extinguished the blaze after 10 hours of intense effort. A firefighter setting up hose pipes was run over and killed by a truck in the early hours.
Yesterday morning, members of the eight-member investigation committee visited the affected building and later held a meeting.
“The investigation is ongoing. The committee will hold another meeting tomorrow (today),” Brigadier General Muhammad Zahid Kamal, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence and member secretary of the committee, told The Daily Star.
He said they could not determine during the primary investigation whether it was an act of sabotage or an accident, expressing his unwillingness to comment further until the investigation is complete.
The meeting was attended by Senior Secretary of Home Affairs Ministry Osman Gani, the committee convener, along with other members, including Inspector General of Police Baharul Alam; Housing and Public Works Secretary Hamidur Rahman Khan; Professor Tanveer Manjur from Buet’s civil engineering department; Brig Gen Mahbubur Rassle of the Bangladesh Army; Md Yasir Arafat Khan from Buet’s chemical engineering department; and Yasir Arafat from the university’s electrical and electronic engineering department.
Two young advisers, Asif Mahmud and Nahid Islam, hold portfolios of two of the fire-affected ministries.
Formed on Thursday, the committee is tasked with identifying the source and cause of the fire, determining any personal or professional responsibility, and providing recommendations to prevent such incidents and improve overall security of the Secretariat.
The committee has been asked to submit a preliminary investigation report by December 30 and a complete report within the following 10 working days.
Khuda Baksh Chowdhury, special assistant to the Chief Adviser for Home Affairs, said in a notice last night that the decision to bar journalists and general people with temporary passes was “in the interest of enhancing the overall security of the Secretariat”.
The notice said all types of temporary entry passes, except for those issued to government officials and employees, will remain suspended.
Holders of these passes can apply for a new temporary entry pass within the next 15 days. Applications can be made through a special cell set up at the Bangladesh Police Crime Command and Control Center.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sheikh Md Sajjat Ali also visited the damaged building yesterday, accompanied by members of the DMP Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit.
Also, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) continued its forensic investigation for a second day.
CID Inspector Prashanta Kumar Debnath said evidence collected from the site on Thursday was being supplemented with a broader search around Building 7.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence deployed an additional unit yesterday to prevent any further fire incidents.
An FSCD official involved in the firefighting effort said while some firefighting equipment is available in the Secretariat buildings, there is no system in place to use them during nighttime emergencies.
He added that a thorough assessment is needed to determine whether the existing equipment is sufficient.