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Uncertainty and fear have gripped officers and employees as offices of the five ministries, hit by a devastating fire past week, are scheduled to resume their work at new locations on a temporary basis from today.

Advisers to some of the ministries said that they would resume their work upon recovering documents from central server system and departments under the secretariat. 

Environment adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Saturday that they were expecting that the high-powered eight-member committee to trace the source and cause of the fire would submit a preliminary report on the fire incident.

‘If the report is conclusive we will share it with you,’ she said, adding, ‘If it requires further investigation then the preliminary report will not be shared.’

The committee was formed at an urgent meeting called by the chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Thursday after a fire broke out in Building No 7 at the secretariat, the administrative headquarters of the government in the capital, gutting offices and documents of five ministries earlier that day.

From today also journalists’ entry into the secretariat using their accreditation cards has been suspended and all temporary entry passes for people in different categories have been cancelled due to safety and security concerns following the fire incident.

The government would soon review the existing press accreditation cards and invite fresh applications from all local and international news outlets to issue new accreditation cards, the chief adviser’s press wing in a statement said on Saturday.

No case was filed in this regard yet.

The offices of posts and telecommunications adviser Nahid Islam and local government, rural development and co-operatives and youth and sports adviser Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan were located on the two sides of the building and gutted in the fire.

Along with the offices and documents of these three ministries offices and documents of the two other ministries — labour and employment, and road transport and bridges — were also gutted in the incident.

Retired brigadier general M Sakhawat Hussain, adviser to the labour and employment ministry, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that his office in the building 7 was not affected in the fire.

According to the ministry officials, the affected ministries would be relocated to the Sramo Bhaban today where they would start work.

Replying to a question on resuming works without documents and logistic supports, Sakhawat Hussain said that at the secretariat all ministries were connected with a central server.

He said that after going to his office tomorrow and seeing everything he could say how they would resume their regular work.

Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, adviser to the road transport and bridges, railways and power ministries, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that 10 rooms at Rail Bhaban were being allocated for the Road Transport and Highways Division secretary and additional secretary level officials.

‘They will start office from there tomorrow,’ he said, adding, ‘The rest of the officials and employees will do offices at the DTCA Bhaban in the capital.’

He said that they would recover the documents which were sent to the ministry from different departments under it and would work on these. 

In a press release, issued by the local government ministry on Saturday, adviser Asif Mahmud said that from today the ministry would start doing official work in the vacant rooms in the Dhaka South City Corporation Nagar Bhaban.

‘Conspiracy to disrupt the ongoing people-friendly development activities of the ministry and to destroy the information of the corruption of the past fascist era will not be allowed to implement,’ he said, instructing all officials to speed up the activities of the ministry with more determination than before.

Youth and sports ministry public relations officer Md Nur Alam said that a decision was taken that affected officials of the ministry would be relocated to the National Sports Council from today.

The adviser would work from the DSCC Nagar Bhaban, he added. 

The Posts and Telecommunications Division, under the posts, telecommunications and information technology ministry, deputy secretary Mohammad Moklesur Rahman said that the affected ministry officials would be relocated to the General Post Office from today while the adviser Nahid Islam would work from the information and broadcasting ministry in the secretariat.

The home affairs ministry on Friday night issued a press release which said that the government suspended journalists’ entry into the secretariat using their accreditation cards and cancelled all temporary entry passes for common people to increase the overall security measures in the secretariat area.

It said that the temporary secretariat entry passes—except for those issued to government officials and employees working in the Secretariat—had been cancelled.

On Saturday, in a statement the chief adviser’s press wing said that the decision to restrict journalists’ access to the secretariat was taken in view of the safety and security of the Key Point Installation.

‘In the meantime, temporary daily access cards will be issued by respective ministries for any press events,’ it continued.