Kachcheri armoury gutted

28 November 2012 01:37 am Views - 2794

Inside the Kachcheri building that was gutted on Monday there had been a room where decades old fire arms had been stored, and that the authorities believe fire had spread to this room as well, Colombo District Secretary Kamal Pathmasiri said.

“Once the Government Analyst completes his investigations, we will do a check on the documents that are burnt or escaped unscathed and the extent of the damage,” he said.

Mr. Pathmasiri said his official room, administrative, planning and financial sections which were located on the first floor were destroyed in the blazing fire.
However he said normal services, such as the issuing of licenses, payment of pensions and other work would begin from today.

Meanwhile, Colombo Crime Division (CCD) took over the investigations into what caused the fire.

The fire erupted at around 8.00 p.m. on the first floor and then spread to the second floor. The fire brigade and the police took nearly three hours to douse the fire.

A special government electrical engineer is carrying out a check to determine the cause of the fire.

Police said the damage caused to the building, equipment and documents is still to be estimated while statements were being recorded from employees who were on duty at the time of the fire. (SD)