A fire that broke out in a classroom in Tambaram Municipal higher secondary school in Selaiyur destroyed government freebies stocked on the premises on Tuesday.
Smoke was noticed in a room where the revenue officials had stocked fans, mixies and grinders to be distributed to the beneficiaries in Tambaram taluk.
Schoolchildren were evacuated by the school staff. Fire and Rescue Services personnel from Tambaram doused the fire in about an hour. However, the smoke was there till late in the evening.
This is the second fire accident in a government school here in recent times. A few months ago, smoke engulfed schoolchildren of a nearby government school, where the municipality had stocked bleaching powder bags.
Residents charged that the revenue authorities were responsible as the stock of freebies was lying on the school campus for months endangering the schoolchildren.
A Revenue official said that 29,700 items including mixies, grinders and fans were stocked in four rooms of the school. The fire destroyed around 900 fans, 850 mixies and 1,700 grinders and the cause of the fire is under investigation by Selaiyur police.
