‘I thought it was a firecracker, then saw the building up in flames’

“The smoke was so much that we could see it from out houses. I thought it was a blast from the fire crackers but when I came running here, I saw that the building was up in flames.”

Pawan Kumar, a security guard posted at the FICCI Federation House recalls how it became difficult for them to even remove the cars which were parked near their premises. “The incident happened at around 1.45 am when a massive fire broke out on the sixth floor of the building. Since the electricity was turned off during the operations, it added to our woes to work properly. On one hand we had to save ourselves and on the other hand we had to make sure that all the cars were removed. The fire was so massive that glasses of all the windows shattered and started falling on us. We ran for cover as we tried to save ourselves.”

Describing how the fire engulfed one floor after the other, Kumar said: “ It was a harrowing experience. Amidst so much smoke and glasses falling, we somehow managed to make a call to the police after which we made a call to the fire department. Thankfully, the fire broke out at night when no staff was present or it would have been macabre.”

Apart from the eyewitnesses, the fire operation that continued throughout the day also left commuters troubled. With barricades stretched out on the Tansen Marg, office-goers as well as residents had to take a different route. Prakash, a local, driving his scooty said: “I just had to take medicines from the nearby market when I saw cops stopping commuters. Despite telling them that it was an emergency, I was told to take another route.”

Talking about the influx of thousands of visitors who throng the museum daily, Vikas Rana, one of the educational assistants of the NMNH said: “Around 2,000 to 3,000 students visit the museum everyday. On the occasion of World Earth Day which was on April 22, there was a flurry of activities such as a recitation competition, essay writing etc in the gallery. Around 50 schools had participated in the events.”