Bandipora: The inquiry committee constituted in the fire incident of the office of the Block Medical Officer (BMO) in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district has failed to complete its investigation and submit a report despite elapsing of over two weeks allotted time.
The BMO’s office in Bandipora which earlier housed the old district hospital was gutted on November 25, burning service records of over 60 paramedics.
In the fire, the building also incurred huge damage.
Soon after the fire, the anxious employees whose service records were gutted gathered to demand inquiry in the incident and requested the higher authorities to visit the spot.
Locals also alleged that the fire was an “inside job” to hide the mischief done by the BMO’s office and demanded a fair investigation.
After the incident, the BMO accepted that the service records of around 60 employees had been gutted.
However, he said that all other records of NHM and COVID-19 were safe and that the cause of the fire was presumed to be a short circuit due to low-lying electric poles outside the office.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Bandipora on November 26 ordered an inquiry by a four-member team to determine the cause of the fire.
The inquiry team included Additional District Development Commissioner Bandipora, Executive Engineer KPDCL, Bandipora Division, Assistant Director, Fire and Emergency Services Bandipora, and Tehsildar Bandipora.
The committee which was directed to conduct a thorough inquiry was also directed to submit its finding in two weeks and also file the inventory of official damaged records to the DC’s office.
However, even after 20 days, the committee is yet to file its report.
Additional District Development Commissioner, Bandipora, Ali Afsar Khan, who is part of the inquiry team, told Greater Kashmir that the committee’s findings had not been concluded and were yet to be submitted.
On 30 November, the ADDC through a general notice had asked for information from willing persons about the fire incident and urged them to record their statements with facts and evidence in five days at his office.
However, Khan said that there was no response from anyone to the notice issued by his office.
“No one has come forward yet to record a statement and the inquiry is still ongoing,” he said.