Secretariat blocks are powder kegs

HYDERABAD: Just a survey of some of the administrative blocks at the state Secretariat for fire safety equipment will give anyone working there the shudders. Take D Block, for example, where a fire had broken out on Thursday. The last time the fire extinguishers were refilled was in December 2006. It was scheduled to be filled again in November 2007 but nobody knows whether it actually was or not.And the fire hydrant outside D Block does not work.
Thus, apart from the plaster of paris used in the false ceilings, the wooden furniture, the huge amount of files and books, overloading of the switches by giving connections to multiple computers kept next to leaking water coolers are a deadly combination of a shortcircuit waiting to happen.
This is the case in almost all the administrative blocks in the Secretariat. Though the government spends crores of rupees on outsourcing the maintenance of the premises, it is just restricted to mopping and sweeping the floors. In many buildings, unused wooden furniture is left unattended and in the name of safety, even the main fuse boxes are kept under lock and with no one knowing who has the key. Thus in case of fire, it would become near impossible to switch off the main switch.
None of these buildings have water hydrants which work. In fact, they have never been used since they were installed. The fire extinguishers which are more than 7-8 years old have never been refilled nor checked by any agency.
J Block which houses important departments like home, major irrigation, minor irrigation, agriculture, municipal administration and urban development, panchayat raj, roads and buildings etc, have unused and broken wooden furniture stacked near the staircase opposite the lift. The area is littered with old papers.
J Block also has a huge conference hall fitted with thermocole roof on the ground floor which is used by the ministers for media briefings. Though fitted with split air conditioners, there is no water hydrant that could be used in case of fire. To make matters worse, none of the staff here has been trained in basic fire fighting techniques that they can initiate till the fire tenders arrive.
L Block which has departments of family welfare, medical and health, Vaidyavidhan parishad etc is in no better condition. There are fire extinguishers which are rusted and have no chemicals inside. The iron shutters of the main fuse box are locked. The place where a water hydrant should have been is being used to keep empty tea cups or as a spittoon.
Overloading of power is a common feature in any block, A and B or H or even C block, which houses the chief minister���s office. With the demand for computers going up, the secretariat electricians use a junction box from one plug point to connect six to eight computers. And the junction board is left on the ground with water from a leaking water cooler hovering dangerously nearby.
Even in some of the chambers in C Block, the situation is equally bad and the officials also complain of rat menace in the building. They say that many a times, rats had damaged the internet or TV cables. None of these buildings have fire alarms or smoke detectors. In short, fires are waiting to happen any day in the building considered the seat of power of the state government.