Maharashtra CM rules out sabotage in Mantralaya inferno

Ruling out any sabotage angle in the June 21 Mantralaya inferno, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan lashed out at the Opposition for fuelling such speculations.

Replying to a debate on the fire, which claimed five lives, in the Legislative Assembly here, Chavan said the forensic report has said that no inflammable or explosive residues were found from the exhibits.

"Nothing should be done to lower the morale of the state," he said.

The police recorded statements of 197 eye-witnesses and collected 27 samples, which had been sent to the forensic lab, he said.

Chavan said CCTV footage, emails and telephone calls received and sent out from Mantralaya have also been checked to verify the sabotage claims.

"Fire fighting system in Mantralaya is handled by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Nobody will say that the fire brigade delayed the fire fighting because it comes under a different political dispensation (Sena-BJP). The fire brigade did its best to put off the inferno," he said.

Rejecting the Opposition's claim that data related to the Adarsh scam and the data centre has been gutted in the fire, Chief Minister said the judicial commission probing the Adarsh Housing scam has all the original files related to the case.

The state data centre is in the new administrative building and hence there is no question of the data being erased, he added.

"Mantralaya does not have a server. Each server has a mirror site and is kept elsewhere," he said adding that files relating to sensitive cases like Lavasa, Sea Rock are safe.

Chavan admitted that structural changes in different cabins of Mantralaya had been done without permission.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse and other Opposition members demanded a judicial probe under the commission of inquiry act.

Khadse said the fire incident had proved that the government has lost the trust of the ordinary citizens.

"If you have nothing to hide, order a judicial probe, so that doubts in the minds of the ordinary citizens are laid to rest. Who is in charge of Mantralaya?" he asked and said that FIR should be filed against the concerned.