Several buildings in the Bangladesh Secretariat remain without electricity following Wednesday’s fire, causing significant disruption to office activities.
Electricity has been disconnected in these buildings for safety reasons, leaving elevators non-operational and forcing employees to climb stairs.
However, offices in buildings with restored electricity have resumed operations.
As of Thursday morning, many affected offices had yet to begin functioning, with cleaning operations underway.
In particular, efforts are focused on cleaning Building No. 7, which sustained the most damage from the fire.
Mohsin Abdullah, supervising engineer of Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited's (DPDC) Ramna Zone, said: “For safety, we have disconnected the power supply. Firefighters used large amounts of water to extinguish the fire, leaving many rooms, including furniture, wet. Power cannot be restored without risking further incidents. The Public Works Department (PWD) and Power Division are now working to clean these areas.”
He added that once the cleaning process is complete, the electrical lines will undergo testing before being reconnected.
Home Affairs Advisor Lt Gen (Retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that the fire originated on the sixth floor of Building No. 7 around 1:50am Thursday. The fire service was alerted at 1:52am and began their operations by 1:54am. After extensive efforts, the blaze was fully brought under control by 8:05am.
In response to the fire, security has been heightened across the Secretariat and its surrounding areas.
Members of the army, police, RAB, and BGB have been deployed to maintain order, with personnel positioned at various entry and exit points.
