The fire that broke out at Sangsad Bhaban yesterday was caused by an overheated air-conditioner that remained turned on overnight, according to a report of the Public Works Department.
In its report submitted to Parliament Secretary Ashraful Moqbul, the department said the fire originated inside the office of Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on the third floor of Jatiya Sangsad, the secretary told the Dhaka Tribune.
“This is very unfortunate to see the electrical devices remain open overnight. Thank God, the fire had started in the morning. If the fire started at midnight, a catastrophe would have followed,” said Ashraful.
The door of the minister’s chamber was locked and the fire fighters broke open and entered the office to extinguish the fire.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury expressed their discontent at the fire incident. Regarded as a national heritage, the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban has no fire alarm system and the assigned fire watchers very often turn truant.
The Public Works Department assigns 17 fire watchers round the clock. Last week, the sergeant-at-arms detected that the fire watchers remained absent. Two of them were served show-cause notice for negligence of duty.
There are 238 fire extinguishers fitted at different points of the nine-floor building, but they remain unused.
After the fire incident, the security wing of the parliament secretariat detected that many officers left the office previous day keeping the computers, UPS and air-conditioners on.
Shirin Sharmin told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have already ordered procurement of alarm system to detect the fire in advanced”.
The number of fire watchers, she said, should be raised to 54 from existing 17.
“Their duty would be to go every floor every hour round the clock,” said the speaker, adding that she also ordered procurement of 200 more fire extinguishers.
Shirin Sharmin said the fire department officials would train the staff on every floor for their safety in case of probable fire incident.
Yesterday the civil security of the parliament secretariat detected smoke at Tofail Ahmed’s chamber on the third floor and informed the fire service and civil defence office of the matter.
The fire fighters immediately rushed to the spot and controlled the fire in around 20 minutes. Two rooms on the third floor and a room on the fourth floor were damaged by the fire.
