Kolkata (IANS). A major fire broke out in the Lal Bahadur Shastri common room of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur on Sunday, in which several important documents were gutted.
Sources in the institute said that the fire incident in the common room was noticed by the security personnel around 3 am when the students, researchers and staff were fast asleep.
Panic soon spread across the campus. The whole complex was covered with black smoke. However, no casualty or injury was reported till the filing of the report.
The local fire service station was immediately contacted. Fire tenders reached the spot and after several hours of hard work, the fire was brought under control.
The cause of the fire is not yet known. However, fire officials suspect that a short circuit may have been the cause of the fire.
The source of the fire is said to be a store room near the common room. However, questions are being raised about the fire prevention measures in this prestigious institute of technology of the country.
Earlier in March 2021, a similar fire broke out in IIT-Kharagpur. There were no reports of casualties or damage to property then.
