ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: The huge fire that gutted Shaheed-i- Millat Secretariat on Tuesday evening was finally doused at about 6.30am on Wednesday after turning property worth over Rs70 million to ashes, an official of the district administration said.

The official said that 14 out of 17 storeys of the building had been completely gutted.

Though the fire was completely extinguished on Wednesday morning, but smoke was coming out of the structure till evening.

Fire-tenders of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Military Engineering Services (MES) remained stationed outside the building throughout the day.

According to an estimate, there were furniture, carpets and electronic accessories worth about Rs5 million on each floor of the building, the official said.

He said over 3,000 employees of different ministries worked in the building. The ministries were chalking out separate plans to accommodate these employees in other offices, he added. Some of the ministries have acquired community centres and other government buildings in Islamabad to continue their work.

The Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat is stated to be the first multi-storeyed building in the capital which was constructed some 22 years ago. The site plan of the building was approved in 1976 and the construction was completed in 1980. Some renovation and expansion of the building was executed in 1995 and 1997, he said.

The building originally belonged to the House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) and was purchased by the ministry of housing and works for Rs163 million in 1986.

The maintenance of the building is the responsibility of the Public Works Department (PWD).

The building housed 10 different ministries, divisions and departments, including interior; environment; education; food and agriculture; science and technology; local government; water and power; Abandoned Properties Organization; Federal Land Commission; Management Services Wing and statistics division.

The building had no emergency exits and the fire escape staircase was constructed in 1997-98.

At all stages, from the start of the construction work till completion, both the PWD and the CDA had issued various no-objection certificates (NOCs) and declared the building fit for office use. However, the building was stated to be in a dilapidated condition with no fire or smoke detecting system.

The deputy commissioner, Islamabad, Tariq Mehmood Khan said the cause of fire could not be ascertained, but it could be due to short circuit or leakage in gas heaters. “The possibility of an act of terrorism cannot be ruled out,” he added.

He said a technical committee, headed by the director general services of the CDA, Moinuddin Jamili, had been formed to ascertain the condition of the building, repair work and loss of property. Army engineers and senior officials of the CDA were the members of the committee, he said.

The DC said the technical committee on Wednesday visited the site of the incident and issued its preliminary report. The committee expressed its satisfaction over the condition of the building, stating it could be renovated again, he said.

Meanwhile, the director (design) of the CDA, M D General told Dawn he would visit the building on Thursday. To a question, he said it was a concrete building which could resist very high temperature. However, if there would be some cracks in the building, it would be declared dangerous, he said.

Meanwhile, the ministry of housing and works formed an inquiry committee, headed by Brig M Khalid Sohail Cheema, the director general PWD, to probe into the cause of the fire.

The ministry of interior also issued a clarification regarding loss of record in the fire incident. It said one out of 33 sections of the ministry was located in the building where some old record was stored. But there was no confidential record of religious and Jehadi outfits or Taliban was dumped there, it added.