An inferno that broke out here on Friday morning in the building that houses the general record room of Abbottabad District completely gutted its 171-year-old criminal and civil records.
A short circuit was reported to be the cause of fire, official sources told. The raging flames also damaged ten offices of local lawyers. The loss was reported to be in millions.
Official sources said that a fire broke out in the double-storey building, situated in the district courts area, at around 4 am and quickly engulfed the building. The fire completely destroyed litigation records of civil and criminal cases that were kept there since the 1940s.
Official sources said that the house and general census records from the days of British rule were reduced to ashes. “We lost very precious records of the district,” said Advocate Tahir Faraz Abbasi, Abbottabad District Bar president.
He said that had the fire brigade reached the site sooner, the damage the district had endured could have been averted. He told that ten offices of lawyers that were situated in Tanoli Law Plaza were also completely damaged. He demanded a judicial inquiry into the fire.
Sources told that local firefighters reached the building about an hour after the fire, by which time the inferno had engulfed the entire building and neighboring offices. The District Revenue Officer Fazale Khaliq confirmed the losses and estimated losses at Rs6 million. He added that the district administration had ordered a probe into the accident under the supervision of Additional Commissioner Hazara Abdul Ghafoor Baig while an FIR had also been lodged with the Cantonment Police Station.
Meanwhile, official sources claimed that stamp paper worth Rs2 billion was saved.
According to official records, the building that was constructed in 1940 was an antique and comprised of ten rooms with a beautifully constructed roof of corrugated sheet and wood. The adjacent buildings of revenue records and district accounts were also damaged by fires in the recent past.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2011.
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