Another fire breaks out inthe Capital

NEW DELHI, June 17: In the third fire incident in the Capital in less than a week, top two floors of a multi-storeyed building, housing several Government and private offices, in Janpath near Connaught Place here were gutted today.Telecom equipment worth lakhs of rupees of the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) were destroyed in the fire, which gutted the training centre and the general administrative section located in the ninth and tenth floor of the Chandralok building.Fire brigade personnel battled for over six hours to bring the fire under control using 35 fire tenders and three hydraulic ladders, fire officials said.However, there were no casualties, as the fire occurred before the office hours, fire officials said.This is the second such incident in Chandralok in two years. In January 1995, the first floor of the same building, housing a branch of the Bank of India was reduced to rubbles.Other offices located in the building include the Power Corporation of India occupying four floors, the State Trading Corporation (STC), the Shipping Corporation of India, Japan Airlines and UP and Haryana Tourism.On Friday, a blaze in Uphaar cinema in South Delhi claimed 57 lives. Two days later, a fire broke out in Hemkunt towers in Nehru Place, but there were no casualties.