RAWALPINDI: A large number of vehicle registration records were destroyed when a fire broke out in the Excise and Taxation Office (ETO) building in Civil Lines on Tuesday at about 6:30pm.

However, no injuries were reported in the fire which started in the vehicle registration record room on the first floor of the multi-storey building. There were just a few employees in the building when the fire started, who were evacuated immediately, a senior ETO official said.

The ETO building is surrounded by the official residences of the judiciary and has the Police Lines Headquarters to its left. When the fire broke out, residents of nearby houses and police officials from the police lines came to see if anyone was trapped in the building, though fire engines had been called.

It took firefighters an hour to control the fire.

Meanwhile, a two-member inquiry committee has been set up by the director excise and taxation to investigate the cause of fire.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2017