No important file lost during Secretariat fire incident says Kerala CM on Gold smuggling case

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], Aug 28 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that no important files have been damaged or lost in the fire that broke out in the Political 2A and Political 5 sections in the state Secretariat on Tuesday.
While speaking at the virtual press conference on the issue of fire incident at the Secretariat, Vijayan said, "Primary assessment is that some files have been burned, but no important files have been damaged or lost."
This comes after both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress held a protest outside Kerala Secretariat on Tuesday and demanded a high-level probe into the fire incident in the protocol office and alleged that it is a conspiracy to destroy evidence in the gold smuggling case.

He informed that two committees have been formed to investigate the incident.
"A team under Additional Director General of Police Manoj Abraham has been appointed to investigate the matter. Another committee under Dr A Kowsigan, Commissioner of Disaster Management has also been appointed to look into the matter. Reports have to be submitted within a week," said the Chief Minister.

Vijayan added that the committees will examine the cause and access the loss in the incident.
"They will search or examine which are the files that were lost in the fire and also recommend measures to prevent such incidents," he added.
As per the Chief Minister, the security measures inside the Secretariat will be examined and strengthen further.
Addressing the ongoing controversy around when to conduct NEET and JEE exams in the country, Vijayan said that Kerala has not taken a stand against conducting NEET and JEE examinations.
"We have not approached the Centre regarding this matter," he said.
Leader Of Opposition in state Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala had met Governor Arif Mohammad Khan over the incident of fire at Kerala Secretariat and demanded an independent probe into the incident.