By IANS,
Chennai : Indian Bank’s operations continued uninterrupted Wednesday despite Tuesday’s fire partly damaging three top floors of its headquarters. The cause of the fire was yet to be established, an official said.
Bank’s Chairman and Managing Director M.S. Sundara Rajan told IANS that while the cause of the fire was being analysed, none of the bank’s vital records were lost and its operations were continuing uninterrupted.
“The fire was mainly on the fifth floor which led to part of the sixth and seventh floors being affected with grime. The daily operations are unaffected and none of the records were lost. We are trying to analyse the cause of the fire,” Rajan said.
Officials in the bank and the Central Bureau of Investigation, requesting anonymity, said that they feared certain vital records pertaining to some accounts under probe were destroyed.
Answering specific queries in this regard, Rajan said: “I am the chairman for the past one year and there have been no enquiries from the CBI in any matter.”
“Though adequate protections in the form of fire alarms, sprinklers and extinguishers on the floors affected by the fire were in place, we were done in by the strong breeze from the sea. The affected offices have been temporarily shifted elsewhere,” Rajan added.
The conflagration fanned by a strong breeze from the seafront, 150 metres to its east, was put out in the early hours after battling it for over eight hours, said a fire service official.
“Over 20 fire tenders manned by some 80 personnel brought under control the fire whose causes are yet to be established,” the official said.