Patna, May 12 (PTI) The Bihar government on Thursday ordered electrical safety audits of all buildings above 15 metres in height in Patna, a senior official said.

The decision was taken after a massive fire broke out on Wednesday at the Visveswarayya Bhavan, a sprawling multistoried building that housed many key establishments, including government offices, she said.

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"Although we conduct fire safety audits of government and private buildings in Patna, after Wednesday's incident we have decided to conduct electrical safety audit of all multistoried buildings in the state capital," Shobha Ahotkar, the director-general of Home Guard and Fire Services, told PTI.

"Similar audits will be conducted in other major cities of the state later," she added.

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Defective or old electric wires are either the cause or contribute to spreading the blaze in many cases, she said.

"We have also decided to hire fire engineering consultants for the purpose. These experts will conduct fire safety evaluations of government buildings and will also provide safety plans for the future. We will soon form at least seven teams for conducting the electrical safety audits in the city," Ahotkar said.

The Patna district administration has been asked to provide some electrical engineers who will be a part of the teams, she said.

This will help in reducing fire incidents caused by defective electrical circuits, she said.

It is believed that most of the office records, furniture and equipment on the fifth and sixth floors of the Visvesvaraya Bhavan were gutted in the fire on Wednesday. Fire tenders struggled for several hours to douse the flames.

No casualty was, however, reported.

"For highrise buildings like this, only hydraulic fire tenders are effective. We have decided to induct 10 more hydraulic platforms. The new machines will bring down the response time and help save lives and property," Ahotkar said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)