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Fire breaks out at ZHC Science Block: How safe are our colleges?

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 The Science Block of Zakir Husain College on 18th April, caught fire due to an apparent malfunctioning of an air conditioner. This isn’t the first incident of a fire breaking out in a college campus. 

On 18th April, at around 3 pm afternoon, the Science Block building of Zakir Husain College caught a fire, DU Beat has learnt. The situation was normal till 3 pm and the fire seems to have broken out some time after that.

Talking to students of the college, we learnt that the fire was caused by “bursting of the compressor of the air conditioner” in the Chemistry staff room. Another source also held that it was an “AC short circuit most probably” and that there wasn’t “much fire, but a lot of smoke”. We were told that since the Chemistry department was having their farewell on the same day, not many students were present in the building, which prevented any injuries – none have been reported so far. Fire trucks were called in and the situation was controlled.

We contacted Ankit Rajput, the Vice President of the morning branch of the college, who said that he didn’t know about the incident.

Adeel, a DU Beat correspondent and a student of Zakir Husain College said, “This was quite a coup de grace to the structure’s crumbling integrity. As it is, the structure is scheduled to be razed to smithereens by the end of this year.”

This isn’t the first time a fire has broken out in a college campus. The increasing number of incidents raise the questions about safety of students and staff and the mismanagement or neglect on part of the college authorities. DU Beat had previously reported about a fire in the Chemistry Lab of Hansraj College on 31 January and a similar incident in the University Stadium building that took place on 22 March this year.
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Prateek Pankaj
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