&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Around 4,000 EVMs destroyed in Kolkata fire, sabotage angle under investigation")
West Bengal Minister Kaushik Chaudhury, on Thursday, said that around 4000 EVMs were destroyed in a fire at a government building in Kolkata. The massive fire broke out at the nine-storey building in south Kolkata's Alipore area on Wednesday. It housed the South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad office along with other offices. The police have launched an investigation following an FIR in connection with the incident.
“Apart from a few government offices, including one linked to the midday meal scheme in schools, around 4,000 EVMs were destroyed. They were kept on the eighth and ninth floors. There were EVMs from around 10 Assembly constituencies,” said the minister of state for fire and emergency services.
After inspecting the fire, Chowdhury said it does not appear to be a normal fire. "We are examining whether there was any sabotage. It is still not clear how the fire reached the ninth and tenth floors." According to him, the blaze was first noticed on the second and third floors of the building, and there is no clear indication how it reached the seventh, eight and ninth floors. He said he was waiting for the forensic report to get a better idea. He added that the gutted EVMs had been deployed across 10 constituencies during the recent West Bengal Assembly elections.
Over ten fire tenders were deployed to battle the flames, with emergency operations stretching nearly 24 hours to entirely cool down hotspots. The building was the office of arrested TMC leader Jahangir Khan. The zila parishad is run by TMC, and it is considered to be a bastion of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee.
