Security beefed up at secretariat

Staff Reporter:
Security measures have been beefed up at Bangladesh Secretariat yesterday following the fire inci-dent at building number 7 on Thursday last.
All sorts of vehicles except the advisers, secretaries and chiefs of different departments were barred from entering the secretariat, sources said.
The officers and employees having their offices in the secretariat were allowed to enter by showing their permanent identity card at the gate. Even journalists were not allowed to enter. As a result they had to collect reports from outside of the secretariat.
The offices at the secretariat opened yesterday after the weekend for the first time following the devastating midnight fire.
All officers from Additional Secretary to downward ranks are entering into the secretariat on foot leaving their transports outside the secretariat.
The home ministry has introduced separate booths on Abdul Gani Road for the visitors of emer-gency needs.
Hassan Tarek, on duty police officer at Gate-1 of the secretariat said that all transports excepting those of the adviser, secretaries, heads of different departments and officers engaged in investigat-ing the fire incident, are totally prohibited from entering the secretariat.
Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Adviser Nahid Islam at a media briefing yesterday said that home ministry would issue temporary pass from today for working journalists assigned to cov-er the secretariat beat from their respective offices.
The government has already formed a special cell to receive applications from the journalists for temporary pass and an office order had been issued in this regard from the home ministry yester-day.
The cell has been opened at the Crime Command and Control Centre of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) at 15 Abdul Gani Road.
The cabinet division on Thursday constituted a seven-member inquiry committee headed by addi-tional secretary of the cabinet division Mohammad Khaled Rahim to probe into the fire incident.
The committee will find out the causes and origin of the fire, responsibilities of any person or group behind the fire and recommend ways and means to avoid any such incident in future.
The fire engulfed the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth floors of the Bhaban- 7 of the Secretariat left burnt down many important files and documents causing substantial damage to the govern-ment offices.