A fire broke out at a computer training centre on Nehru Street in Ramnagar on Monday morning, damaging computers and furniture. Nobody was injured since the accident took place around 6.45 a.m.
According to P. Annadurai, Station Fire Officer, Coimbatore South Station, the residents of the area alerted them that thick black smoke and fire could be seen at the Cegonsoft computer and training institute.
Three vehicles, including a water tanker, rushed to the spot, where the Fire and Rescue Services personnel had to first break open the glass windows to let the thick, black smoke move out from the premises.
The fire was at the first floor of the ground-plus-two-floor structure, which housed training centres. A computer training and certification agency had hired the premises about two years ago.
Mr. Annadurai said that the fire was concentrated on the northern portion of the training centre where the furniture was. It was next to a cubicle where uninterrupted power system was also placed. The personnel battled the fire for about an hour before bringing it under control.
The building owner V. Ramasamy said that it was the residents who first alerted them on seeing the fire. The residents had also called up the Kattoor Police Station.
He said he had completed the building three years ago and had let the ground and first floors out on rent to the computer and training institute around a couple of years ago. He had obtained the necessary permission from the Coimbatore Corporation and other authorities.
Mr. Annadurai, however, countered Mr. Ramasamy’s statement saying that neither the building owner Mr. Ramasamy nor the training centre managers had obtained no-objection certificate from the Fire and Rescue Services Department.
The department would serve a notice on the building owner and forward the same through the District Collector to the Coimbatore Corporation for necessary action. Corporation officials said that it appeared that the building was 10 years old. The owner did not have the necessary records. With the help of the property tax assessment book, the Corporation was verifying the records at the zonal office.
As and when the trace the records, the civic body would first study the records and if it found that the building had not been constructed according to the approval, it would not hesitate to initiate action.
The police said that they had conducted preliminary inquiries but were yet to register a case in this connection.
