Minor fire at State Secretariat in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A minor fire broke out at the Kerala State Secretariat here on Tuesday morning.

The fire, reported in the office of Industries Minister P. Rajeev's additional private secretary Vinod, was brought under control within 15 minutes.

District Collector and top police officials rushed to the spot. A short circuit has been identified as the cause.

However, according to some, there is more to it than meets the eye as the fire broke out at a time when the Congress-led Opposition is up in arms with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and P. Rajeev over the alleged AI camera scam.

The opposition has been questioning how state public sector Keltron handled the issue, which they allege is around Rs 100 crore.

Incidentally, the fire broke out a day after Income Tax officials inspected the office of Keltron - which was the implementing agency in the project of installing AI cameras for the Transport Department.

Another reason for the doubt over the authenticity of the fire incident is when the gold smuggling case, in which Swapna Suresh - the prime accused who had alleged links with the high and mighty -surfaced in 2020, a fire had broken out in the general administration department of the Secretariat.

However, police have registered a case against this morning's incident.