Fire destroys several offices at Visvesvaraya Bhavan in Patna, no casualties

A major tragedy was averted on Wednesday morning after a massive fire broke out at the Visvesvaraya Bhavan (also called the technical secretariat) on the Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg of state capital Patna.

While the inferno caused huge damage to office records and equipment, there has been no loss of life.

The building housed multiple state government offices, including road construction and building construction departments.

Fire tenders took nearly 90 minutes to bring the blaze under control.

Some labourers who were trapped in the building were rescued by the fire department.

Construction work has been going on in the new building's premises since 2021.

The building houses more than six departmental offices, including Bihar state planning board, rural works department, road construction department, minor water resources department, etc.

According to Patan Sadar SDO Navin Kumar, the fire broke out around 7.30 am.

A security guard noticed smoke emanating from the fifth floor of the building, prompting him to ring up the fire department.