Ten days after a devastating fire at the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital聽 Dhaka, the first five floors of the damaged Building 7 were opened for offices on Sunday.
But there was a low presence of officials and a lack of amenities on the day, with some officials joining work without internet connection and water supply facilities.
The damaged floors, from the 5th to the 8th, remained sealed off on the day.
During a visit to the building on Sunday, housing and public works ministry secretary Md Hamidur Rahman Khan told reporters that normal official activities had resumed on the first five floors in the building.
Works are ongoing to resume the internet connections and water supply on the floors opened for offices, as at some places these connections were still unavailable, he said.
He also said that repair works on the damaged 5th to 8th floors were ongoing and that floors would be opened for work within 10 to 15 days.
The fire that broke out at the Building 7 at the secretariat, the administrative headquarters of the government, early December 26, 2024 burned offices and documents of five ministries 鈥撯�� local government, rural development and co-operatives, posts and telecommunications, youth and sports, labour and employment and road transport and bridges.
The fire spread from the 5th floor to the 8th floor of the building with each floor having 40鈥�50 rooms. The affected offices were relocated temporarily to different departments.
A committee, formed on December 26 to probe the fire incident, in its preliminary report on December 31 said that a loose electrical connection caused the fire and the probe body did not find involvement of any person in the incident.
On Sunday morning officials were seen resuming work on the five floors (from the ground floor to the 4th floor) at the Building 7.
The turnout of officials in the ministries, including road transport, labour, public administration, finance, posts and telecommunications, local government, youth, social welfare and women and children affairs was low on the day.
The corridors of the offices became deserted at about 3:00pm with a very few officers and employees remaining in these ministries.
On the 4th floor, at the posts and telecommunications ministry, the rooms were found empty.
Senior assistant secretary Md Ekramul Haque Chowdhury, who came to the office at about 3:00pm, said that their offices had been transferred to the GPO office after the fire incident.
鈥楾he officials will return to these offices tomorrow,鈥� he added.
Almost the same situation was seen at the labour ministry on the same floor as only a handful of officials were found in the ministry.
Officials said that after the fire incident, their offices were relocated to the Sramo Bhaban and on Sunday they resumed work in the secretariat on a priority basis.
Till 3:00pm no internet connections were available on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors while limited internet connections were seen on the ground and 4th floors.
The water supply system had not been restored on these floors till 3:00pm, said officials.
Road Transport and Highways Division joint secretary Jinnat Rehana was sitting in her office on the ground floor and said that that they had resumed work in this building on Sunday.
She said that the water supply on the floor was yet to be recovered.
On December 30, public works department deputy assistant engineer Md Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told reporters based on a primary assessment that the fire-affected building was repairable.
A firefighter was killed and four others were injured in a road accident during operations to extinguish the fire.
