The sight of the Maharashtra Secretariat building, Mantralaya, on fire was horrifying. While the shortcomings in the fire-fighting system need to be scrutinised and corrected, it is equally important to be aware of safe working practices. Be it office, residence or commercial buildings, rooms are extensively wired and provided with switches, plug points, voltage stabilisers, computer networks, electrical appliances and the like. Together, all these make offices clumsy and unsafe. It is important to ensure safety in the installation of and working with electrical networks and appliances. Offices can have shelves, furniture, doors, and windows made of non-inflammable material. Safe working practices like storing files in cupboards when not in use should be adopted.
S. Muthukrishna Iyer,Thiruvananthapuram
That no fire alarm went off and the local fire tenders could not douse the fire in time only shows the callous attitude of our administrators towards safety.
T.S. Viswanathan,Chennai
