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‘Sabotage’ not ruled out in exchange fire: BSNL

‘A committee would investigate this angle’
‘Still some congestion in the network’

Chandigarh: In a significant development, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) today said it does not rule out “sabotage” behind Saturday’s fire in its main exchange building here and announced that a committee formed by the State-owned telecom major would be probing this angle.

“If there is any sabotage or if there has been any departmental slackness in the incident, that will be investigated by the committee, which will give its report latest by July 15,” BSNL Chief General Manager Rajender Singh told reporters here.

The CGM’s statement assumes significance because Principal General Manager (telecom), D.R. Paul, who has been regularly interacting with the media after the fire incident, had ruled out the sabotage angle.

While Chandigarh Administration has already formed a committee which will among other things go into reasons behind the fire, BSNL today announced forming of the committee on the instructions of its Chairman-cum-Managing Director.

The committee will comprise five members, including the General Manager (telecommunication and development), who will be its chairman.

The committee will find out the cause of fire and see if there was any failure of fire alarm system or fire-fighting equipment and the extent of damage caused, Principal General Manager (Operations) S.R. Aggarwal said.

He said the Fire Department had used water to douse the blaze, which started from the transmission hub of the main exchange building in Sector 17, resulting in extensive damage to its equipment.

“Had more of CO2 been used to bring the fire under control, it would have saved our equipment,” Mr. Aggarwal said. Asked why only one guard had been put on duty in the exchange, which also takes care of some numbers of the Army and the Air Force, Mr. Singh said, “the committee will take all things into account”.

To a question if installation of close-circuit TV cameras could have helped avert the fire, he said, “all such factors will be discussed”.

He said preliminary reports suggested that the fire, loss caused by which may run into crores of rupees, had started due to a short-circuit in the air-conditioner installed in the transmission room.

Asked if disruption in their services could result in some subscribers including banks, financial institutions and offices opting for other service providers, he said that assessment was not possible at this stage, but stressed “people who have been with us know about our quality service”.

Meanwhile, he said mobile services, both post-paid and pre-paid, had been restored from Chandigarh, which acts as a nodal centre for states including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

He said BSNL Chandigarh caters to broadband services of 36 towns of the region and while they had been restored in 32 places, those remaining include Kullu, Bilaspur, Zirakpur (Punjab), Leh and some parts of Chandigarh.

STD lines were also restored, but there was still some congestion in the network, he said. -- PTI

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‘Sabotage’ not ruled out in exchange fire: BSNL