More than 32,000 BSNL landline phones in 20 odd areas of Ahmedabad went dead after a fire broke out on the third floor of the state-owned telecom company's Navrangpura telephone exchange.
More than 32,000 BSNL landline phones in 20 odd areas of Ahmedabad went dead early on Wednesday morning after a fire broke out on the third floor of the state-owned telecom company's Navrangpura telephone exchange on CG Road.
The fire affected BSNL's landline telephone service in Navrangpura, Bodakdev, Nirnaynagar, Ranip, Kaligam, Vastrapur, Bopal, Vasna, Sarkhej, Brahmkshatriya, Subhash Bridge, Gitabaug, Vejalpur, Changodar, Jagatpur, Modasar, Sanand and Ognaj areas.
The telecom company said the exchange had to be switched off temporarily because of the fire that broke out at around 6 am on Wednesday. However, BSNL broadband services in these areas were unaffected.
According to the fire control room, a short circuit may have caused the fire. The exchange room is located behind the BSNL call centre on the third floor of the building. Some computers and wires were gutted in the blaze. "The fire was extinguished after a three-hour operation," said the official.
In an official statement, BSNL said the fire brigade was called immediately and the fire was put out by the firemen by using water.
During the firefighting operation, water was sprayed into the affected part of the building from outside after breaking the window glass of the exchange equipment room. As a result, the room in which the exchange was located got filled with water. To avoid further damage, the exchange was shut down temporarily.
"By evening, we had restored around 15,000 connections. We routed our exchange through the main exchange in Gandhinagar and restored around 5,000 connections each in Vastrapur, Subhash Bridge and Ranip. We will restore Navrangpura telephone exchange by connecting landline network of the affected exchanges to other switches of Railwaypura and Gandhinagar. By Thursday morning, we expect to resume operations at even the Navrangpura exchange," SK Bhandari, PGM, BSNL, Gujarat Circle.
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