Some of the Maharashtra government officers resumed work at the Mantralaya on Monday for the first time after Thursday’s massive fire. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar also operated out of the Mantralaya, occupying makeshift offices on the first floor of the building.
The chief minister also announced compensation of `25 lakh for each of the families of the five persons who lost their lives in the fire. “I have offered a government job to one of Mohan More’s family members, my colleague in the chief minister’s office who died in the fire,” the chief minister said.
He said the other four deceased were visitors who had come to Mantralaya for their work. The chief minister, while expressing sorrow over the loss of lives also announced that the files lost in the fire could be recreated with the help of the document journey management system (DJMS). “It will be difficult, but not impossible. It was wrong to say that the servers were affected, as servers are not in this building. Hence whatever data we have on the server will help recreate files,” said the chief minister.
The CM clarified that the Mantralaya makeover plan was not a priority. He also praised the rescue workers who evacuated more than 6,000 people against all odds. “We must praise the staff that vacated around 6,000 people,” he said.
“The building was built in 1955. Then, the number of people coming to Mantralaya were less and it was built to cater those needs. I believe it was an accident and the state has faced it boldly and efficiently. We will try to learn from this,” he added.
Giving information about the salvage operation, the chief minister said that seven trucks of debris has already been removed from Mantralaya. He ruled out any other inquiry into the fire incident apart from the investigation being done by the crime branch.