Major blaze at Lok Nayak Bhavan office

New Delhi: A massive fire broke out on the fourth floor of the Lok Nayak Bhavan located near Khan Market on Monday afternoon. Around 120 firemen along with 26 fire tenders and two air lifts carried out the fire-dousing operations.

According to a senior official from the Delhi Fire Service, “We received a call at around 4 pm about a fire at the Lok Kalyan Bhavan. Close to 26 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames which had engulfed the third, fourth and fifth floor of the building. The fire mainly broke on the fourth floor following which it spread to other floors.”

The building houses offices of the Enforcem-ent Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Income Tax department.

Although no casualties were reported in the mishap, fire officials said that it took more than three hours to bring the blaze under control.

A senior fire official said that the cause behind the fire is yet to be established. However, as per the preliminary investigation, they suspect short circuit in the air-conditioner in one of the rooms located on the fourth floor to be one of the reasons.

Balraj Bidlan, who lives just next to the government building, said he rushed out of his house on hearing a loud noise and saw an AC on fire at Lok Nayak Bhavan. “We heard glass panes breaking and saw smoke coming out from the fourth floor,” Mr Bidlan said.

Meanwhile, locals helped in clearing the narrow road for the fire trucks to reach the building.

The western side of the building on the fourth and fifth floors suffered major damage.