LIC office in Lucknow gutted

Lucknow  :  The district office of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in the busy Hazratganj area here was gutted in a major fire late Thursday, police said. No one was injured as the office was closed.

As smoke billowed through the first floor office of the insurance company, fire warning alarms went off, alerting LIC officials, who rushed to the spot immediately.

Meanwhile, three fire tenders were rushed to the scene and they battled for more than an hour to douse the flames.

The fire started at around 9.30 p.m. and could be doused at around 10.45 p.m., police said. Though no one was injured in the fire as no staff was present, all files, papers and computers were destroyed in the fire.

Since the office was locked, firemen broke into the building and extinguished the fire with great difficulty.

Senior Branch Manager Ram Chander told IANS that the first floor “appeared completely burnt down” and added that assessment of the loss would only be made Friday morning. Officials however admitted that most computers, files etc were all destroyed in the fire.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Lucknow R.K. Chaturvedi told IANS that prima facie a short circuit could be reason behind the fire but said the department would wait for the probe to be conducted by the district fire officer before coming to any conclusion.