Staff Correspondent

An engineer of the Public Works Department believes the Building No. 7 of the Secretariat, which was burnt down, can be repaired and put back into use.

Sub-Assistant Engineer of Public Works Department Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, who is in charge of maintaining the government buildings including the Secretariat, spoke to reporters on Monday.

He said several high-level investigating teams will decide on the condition and repair of the building. The engineers will file a report after inspecting everything.

“Initially, it seemed that the building could be repaired,” Mannan said.

The fire was brought under control about 10 hours after it erupted on the sixth floor of Building No. 7 at the Secretariat early on Thursday. Most of the documents on the 8th and 9th floors of the building were burnt.

The public works engineer said the nine-storey building has 40 to 50 rooms on each floor. A total of four buildings were damaged. Six ministries on those floors were also affected by the fire.
That night, flames were seen burning a floor from one part to the other on the top of the building, leading to suspicions of sabotage.

Asked how the fire originated, the public works engineer said: "The Fire Service can say it. But we witnessed damage in many spaces after visiting the scene. A number of committees are investigating the incident. They can tell you how it happened."

The building is still in the custody of the police and is yet to be handed over to the department, he said.

Asked how long it will take to repair the damage after the handover, Mannan said: "We will be able to estimate the damage once the committee submits its report after inspecting the damages."