Fire breaks out at Mayur Bhavan in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: A fire broke out in a multi- storeyed building housing offices of the Income Tax department at the heart of the capital on Saturday morning, completely gutting a floor and destroying large number of documents.
   
Two persons, who were inside the building at the time of fire, escaped unhurt, fire brigade officials said.

The seventh floor of Mayur Bhavan building at Connaught Place, which houses the Directorate of General Administration of the Income Tax department, was completely gutted in the blaze.
   
The building has a number of offices of the IT department, provident fund and pharma companies.

The blaze was spotted at around 5 a.m. by B N Sharma, an attendant in a petrol pump situated behind the building, who informed the fire brigade officials.
   
High flames were seen coming out of the nine-storeyed building. Forty fire tenders and 250 personnel worked for about four hours to douse the fire, Chief Fire Officer R C Sharma said.
   
"Two lakh litres of water was used to douse the fire and we used hydraulic-lifters, blowers and thermal lingers besides other equipments," Sharma told.
   
He said the fire spread all across the floor because of its design. "Since there were lesser walls and wind-sheets, the air fanned the fire all across," he said, adding the flames did not spread to other floors.
    
The building did not have all the fire-safety requirements, Sharma said, adding the cause of fire was being investigated.