Eleven days after the devastating fire at the State Secretariat building, which killed five people and destroyed four floors, a mock fire drill was carried out on Monday.

Emergency services managed to evacuate all the persons — about 3,000 employees and visitors — from the building in 11 minutes.

Despite prior intimation to all the employees and visitors in the building, the manoeuvre was not orderly. Employees jostled for space, which caused some congestion at the exits.

The Chief Minister, Mr Prithviraj Chavan was not present in the building but the Chief Secretary of the state, Mr J K Banthia was caught briefly in the melee.

The alarm for the drill was sounded at 4.00 pm and by 4.11 pm the building was empty. Two fire engines arrived at the building immediately. For every floor a manger and a nodal officer, was designated, whose job was to oversee the evacuation on that floor.

Purpose

Talking to the media after the exercise, Mr Banthia said the purpose of the mock drill was to ensure that the people in the building descend and disperse in an orderly manner, should a real fire break out. The drill was a success and more would be conducted soon.

Relief and Rehabilitation Secretary, Mr Pravin Pardeshi, who was one of officers in-charge of the mock drill, said the drill has helped identify a few flaws.

“There was bunching of people at certain exits. More exits are needed for faster evacuation. Some exits were closed for security reasons. We could consider allowing people to exit from such doors but not enter,” he said.

>rahulw@thehindu.co.in

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