Museum fire: Police files case, rules out sabotage.
Museum fire: Police files case, rules out sabotage.
Fire safety mechanism of the National Museum of Natural History, housed in the Ficci building, was “not functioning” and it could have controlled the fire that broke out in the building in the early hours of Tuesday, fire officials said.
“The fire safety systems were there, but they were not functioning at the time when we tried to operate them. Had they been working, the fire would have been curtailed at the earliest because we had to depend on our resources only,” deputy fire chief Rajesh Panwar said.
However, director of the museum countered the claims of the fire department, saying they had annual maintenance contract with an operator. A team of civil engineers visited the building and declared it unsafe till through a check-up is done after the building cools down.
The Delhi police, meanwhile, registered a case under Section 436 of IPC (mischief caused by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) against unnamed persons in connection with the incident, a senior police officer said.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. The Delhi police will conduct a forensic examination of the building and collect samples for forensic tests once the fire department declares the building safe for the exercise, the police officer said.
The police and the fire department officers have ruled out the possibility of sabotage on the basis of investigation conducted so far. A short-circuit is unlikely to have caused the blaze as the incident took place in the early hours when there is no chance of overload, the officers said.
While the damage accrued to the nearly 40-year-old museum is yet to be assessed, experts said they are hoping that the collection kept in reserve is still intact.
“We have a large collection of natural flora and fauna, few fossils and collections of natural history. According to our policy, we had only displayed one-third of our total collection and the rest was kept in reserve. We are not allowed to enter the premises as of now, so have no clue about the extent of the loss in the fire,” Naaz Rizvi, a scientist at the museum, said, adding that they were waiting for the official clearance to enter the premises and begin estimating the damage caused by the fire.
“It is definitely a loss, the collections and specimens were important. We will try to rebuild our collections. This comes at a time when we were preparing to begin our summer programmes, which are very popular with schoolchildren. Our exhibits were planned in such a way that it would help them in their curriculum,” Ms Rizvi said.
“It is indeed a tragic accident. Loss of collection is losing a vital piece of history. Natural history collections are invaluable pieces of scientific knowledge,” director of Bombay Natural History Society Deepak Apte said.
The incident highlights the importance of taking utmost care of such treasure troves, he said. The industry body Ficci said the cause of the fire is being investigated and thanked the Delhi Fire Service for its quick response in bringing the situation under control.
“Luckily, no one was present inside the building when the incident occurred. Federation House, which is the Ficci office building, and Ficci auditorium were not affected by the incident,” Ficci said in a statement.
Delhi’s tourism minister Kapil Mishra recalled during his elementary school excursions to the museum, he was fascinated by replicas of dinosaur skeletons and other prehistoric animals. “No kid in Delhi has grown up without a visit to the museum,” Mr Mishra said.
There were plans to renovate and relocate the museum last year, according to local reports, from its current location where it occupied the same building as India’s Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
