LAHORE, April 25: The Civil Secretariat office of the new Punjab Prisons Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor was gutted here on Friday evening.

The office and the adjacent retiring room were allotted to the minister on Thursday and were being painted afresh.

Officials said a fire broke out in the office at

8pm when power was out and painters were sitting in the lawn.

The fire brigade and rescue personnel reached the scene in 10 minutes and immediately extinguished the fire which, in the meantime, damaged furniture and wood panelling of the office and the retiring room.

Officials said the fire might have been broken out after the tossing of a burning cigarette butt into a paint canister by one of the workers. “The power was out so there is no chance of any short circuiting of wires. However, we are going to determine the exact cause of the fire,” an official said, ruling out the possibility of the burning of any record.

He said the office had yet to be occupied by the minister.