Special Correspondent //

Since the secretariat was unusable due to a fire, the three floors of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) on the 13th, 14th and 15th floors have been given to the Local Government Ministry for use. The ministry was supposed to have an office there from Sunday. However, cleaning and renovation work is underway today as well.

On Sunday afternoon, the rooms of the advisor and secretary of the Local Government Ministry were seen being prepared and painted and cleaned. Papers indicating who will sit in which room among the rooms on the three floors have been pasted in front of the rooms. Furniture is being brought for office use. Fans and utility facilities are being installed for all the rooms.

Ahsan Habib, Assistant Engineer of DSCC Region-1, said that the rooms on the 14th and 15th floors were abandoned for about one and a half to two years. Now they have been renovated and cleaning and painting work is underway.

DSCC Secretary Mohammad Bashirul Haque Bhuiyan said, there was a DTCA project on the 14th and 15th floors. They moved to their building one and a half to two years ago. Since then, these two floors have been vacant. We had two or three departments on half of the 13th floor, which have been shifted to the vacant space below. The cleaning and minor renovation work will be completed by today.

He said, “They (the local government ministry) are coming for two months. When the situation improves, they will leave again. However, for the greater good, if the ministry comes to the DSCC building, it will be easier for us to take quick decisions. The work will also speed up.”

A fire broke out in Building No. 7 of the Bangladesh Secretariat on Wednesday night. After about six hours, the fire was brought under control at 8:05 am on Thursday. The fire service received news of the fire in the secretariat building at 1:52 am. A couple of minutes later, the fire service unit located in the secretariat started controlling the fire. As the intensity of the fire increased, 18 units of the fire service joined the firefighting work one by one.

A video posted on the official Facebook page of the Fire Service after 5 am shows a fire raging from one end of the Secretariat building to the other. Flames can also be seen from outside. Police and army members are assisting the Fire Service in controlling the fire. After the initial fire broke out, the number of police and army members was increased at the scene. After that, BGB members were deployed in the Secretariat area.

The building houses the offices of several important ministries and departments. This building includes the Ministry of Water Resources; Ministry of Youth and Sports; Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology; Department of Posts and Telecommunications; Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, Local Government Department, Rural Development and Cooperatives; Ministry of Labor and Employment; Ministry of Finance, Finance Department, Financial Institutions Department, Internal Resources Department; Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, Road Transport and Highways Department.

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