Shimla: A major fire broke out in a British-era building in this Himachal Pradesh town early on Tuesday, officials said. Many buildings in Shimla have already witnessed incidents of fire in the past.
A major fire engulfed the historic Gorton Castle building that was completed in 1904, and shown as Chanchad Bhawan’ in Bollywood blockbuster Three Idiots. This was the last historic building of the British era which had so been far safe from any incident of fire.
A security guard at a nearby hotel was the first to spot the fire around 2.30am and he informed a local resident Rajpal and others after which the fire department was alerted. Parking of vehicles by the officials of the AG’s office and faulty fire hydrants delayed the fire fighting operation.
Shimla MLA Suresh Bhardwaj said this was an unfortunate incident and a very important part of history had been gutted. Bhardwaj said the incident has also exposed the lack of fire fighting preparedness in saving these historic buildings.
Accountant General Offices houses the record of state government employees besides their pension records and we fear valuable documents were lost in the incident which would be a setback to the employees, he added.
As per the information available on the official website of Shimla district administration, Gorton Castle building was one of the most striking buildings of the British Empire built in a new-Gothic structure that had Sir Swinton Jacob as its architect.
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply