Mantralaya fire: Work resumes, staff pays tributes to victims

Mumbai, Jun 25: Work in the fire-ravaged Mantralaya resumed today with staff returning to work in the three lower floors of the state secretariat building.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, whose sixth floor office was damaged in the blaze, has shifted to the first floor office of Health Minister Suresh Shetty, while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar began functioning from the second-floor office-room belonging to Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare.

Earlier this morning, Chavan led Mantralaya staff in mourning the loss of lives in the inferno. A team of structural experts had inspected the three lower floors of the ground-plus-six floor building on Saturday and cleared them for normal functioning.

Several ministers and senior officials have begun operating from the Maharashtra Legislature building and from the new administrative building, opposite Mantralaya.

The PWD has requisitioned 56,000 sq ft in the GT Hospital, near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, and another 30,000 sq ft from the MTNL Cooperate telephone exchange building near Mantralaya as work places for the staff.

The Mantralaya is expected to be fully functional within three months, Public Works Department Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has said.

On Thursday, a terrific fire accident gutted large parts of the top four floors of the building. The blaze was doused after nearly 27 hours. The fire claimed five lives and left 16 injured, including several officials.

PTI