Kolkata, Oct. 19 (PTI): A massive fire broke out today on the 16th floor of a commercial building in central Kolkata, gutting the global market office of the State Bank of India (SBI).
Thirteen fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames that originated from the server room of the SBI’s global department at the Jeevan Sudha building, a fire brigade official said.
“Fire that broke out at around 10.20 AM was finally controlled and extinguished at about 7.15 PM after about nine hours of operation,” he said, adding that no injury or casualty was reported in the incident.
City police officials said normal traffic has been restored around the building after the fire was extinguished.
“The furniture and computer peripherals were damaged in the fire but there was no fear of data loss as the files were stored in the disaster recovery cells of Mumbai and the local head office in Kolkata,” General Manager (Global Markets Units) of SBI Ventakesh Bharadwaj said.
Chief General Manager (Kolkata circle) of SBI P P Sengupta said there was no news of anyone getting trapped on the floor.
Although it was a holiday for Diwali, the employees rushed to the site as soon as the news of the fire spread, the general manager said.
The building on the Jawaharlal Nehru Road has 19 floors and houses the offices of the SBI and the LIC and other financial organisations.
