A fire broke out in a room of the education department of Jadavpur University on Monday afternoon. Police said no one was trapped or injured.
Jadavpur University registrar Snehamanju Basu said when the students of the BEd classes tried to switch on the AC around 12.30pm they saw a spark in the switch box and then smoke. “It happened in room No. 303 on the third floor of Nazrul Bhavan. After we got an alert, those in charge of the electrical maintenance section were deputed to the spot. According to them, the fire was triggered by a short circuit,” said Basu. “The situation was brought under control within 15 minutes.”
Room number 303 is on the third floor of the five-storey Nazrul Bhavan, opposite the open-air theatre where the university holds its annual convocation.
Debasish Mridha, a professor of the education department who was taking a class on the ground floor, said his room was also filled with a thick smoke because of the fire.
“The cable emerging out of the switch box was burning. Our maintenance staff used the portable fire extinguisher. Although the fire was arrested, black smoke was spreading to adjacent classrooms. We asked everyone to vacate the rooms,” he said.
The power connection to the lift and the entire building was snapped. “The students of the sociology department were attending classes on the fourth floor. They were asked to use stairs while coming down,” said Mridha.
Later the university staff arranged two pedestal fans so the trapped smoke could be let out.
The officials of the fire fighting department inspected the room to check whether the fire was brought under control and the smoke was cleared.
Later classes resumed in other rooms of the building as the power connection was restored. “But classes were not held in room no. 303,” said a JU official.