DHAKA, Dec 26, 2024 (BSS) - Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan today said the government has formed a high-powered committee to investigate the Secretariat fire incident and asked it to submit a primary report within the next three days.

"An emergency meeting was held with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus in the chair where the decision was taken that the high-level probe body will submit its preliminary report on the fire," she told a press briefing at Foreign Service Academy here this evening.

Rizwana said a senior secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs will lead the probe committee.

Other members of the committee are: the secretary of the Housing and Public Works Ministry, the inspector general of police (IGP), chief of Fire Service and Civil Defense (member secretary), explosive expert from armed forces, and three experts (civil, chemical and electronic engineers) Dr Tanvir Mansur, Dr Yasir Arafat and Yasir Arafat from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). 

The environment adviser said after identifying the reason and source of the inferno, the committee will submit its primary report within the next three days.

"We want a thorough and extensive probe into the incident," she said, adding that it is a matter of security of all. 

There are important documents at the secretariat and that is why the government is giving the highest importance to the matter, she said. 

Replying a question, Rizwana said they need to wait until the probe committee's report is available to answer all the relevant questions. 

She said the media will get the copy of the probe report once the investigation is completed. 

Replying to another query, Rizwana said the probe body will examine whether there was any negligence and why the fire took place.

She said a fair and thorough investigation will be carried out so that such fire does not break out in the future.

Speaking at the briefing, Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain said the documents of five ministries were burnt, while the Posts and Telecommunications Division, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry and the Roads and Highways Division were affected in the inferno.

He said the documents of the Ministry of Youth and Sports could be recovered as those remain stored online.

Asif said a ministry-level committee has been formed to assess how many documents were burnt and how much of burnt documents could be recovered.

Responding to another query, he said the government indentified some irregularities in projects of Pirojpur district and the preliminary evidences of plundering money from these projects were found.

Claiming that the involvement of a principal secretary in the plundering was found during an investigation, the LGRD adviser said the documents of those were burnt in the fire but those could be recovered from Pirojpur district administration. 

Rizwana said the ousted government talked about digitalisation of the country but the Secretariat fire has proved that the country's people are not getting the benefit from it.

In reply to another question, she said the Secretariat has a security system and the high-level committee will probe considering all possible reasons behind the fire.

Home Adviser Lt. Gen. (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury and Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam were also present at the press briefing.