Aday after nine people, including three railway official, one RPF personnel diedin a fire incident in Kolkata railway office, the Ministry on Tuesday said thatit has ordered a high-level probe.
RailwayMinistry spokesperson D.J. Narain said, "A four member probe team headedby Jaideep Gupta, Principal Chief Safety Officer with three other heads ofDepartments has been nominated for the inquiry into the fire incident."
Narainsaid that the probe team have been asked to carry out and complete the probe asearly as possible -- within three weeks. West Bengal goes to polls on March 27in eight phases till April 29. Election results are expected by May 2.
Hesaid, other members on the probe team are A.N. Mishra, Principal Chief SecurityCommissioner, V. B. Vishwakarma, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer and AjayKumar, Principal Chief Signals and Telecommunications Engineer.
Atleast nine people were killed in the major fire that broke out on the 13thfloor of a multi-storeyed building in Kolkata's Strand Road area on Monday at 6p.m.
RailwayProtection Force (RPF) and other Railway staff immediately rushed to the spotand along with the fire brigade were able to bring the blaze under control by11.00 p.m.
Duringthe course of rescue operation, one Railway staff Utpal Acharya, working asSSE/Con/S&T/NKG suffered injuries and admitted to B R Singh Hospital inSealdah.
"But,unfortunately the Railway lost one officer and one staff alongwith some firebrigade and police personnel. Paratha Sarathi Mandal, posted as Deputy ChiefCommercial manager/Database and S. Sahani, Constable of RPF lost theirlives," Eastern Railway spokesperson Kamal Deo Das said.
EasternRailway condoled the death of Railway officials and other officers & staffof State Government who sacrificed their lives.
WestBengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also reached the spot late night.
UnionRailway Minister Piyush Goyal condoled the death of the railway personnel andin a series of tweets said, "I salute the bravery of three Railwaypersonnel, including RPF Constable Sanjay Sahni, Dy Chief Commercial ManagerPartha Sarathi Mondal and Senior Technician Sudip Das, along with fivefirefighters and a police ASI, who laid down their lives to stop fire atEastern Railways Strand road office, Kolkata."
"Theirvalour and selflessness has set a shining example for fellow citizens. Deepestcondolences to the families of the courageous souls. My thoughts are with themin this hour of grief. Om Shanti."
Railwayofficials including the General Manager were at the site, this information wasshared by Goyal in a late night tweet.
Healso said: "All possible assistance has been provided by the Railways tothe State Govt during this unfortunate fire accident. A high level inquiryconsisting of four Principal heads of Railway departments has been ordered toascertain the cause of the fire."
Earlieron Tuesday, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) condoled the death on Twitter andsaid: "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakheach from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due tothe tragic fire in Kolkata. Rs 50,000 would be given to those seriouslyinjured."