Gaurav C sawantNEW DELHI, JUNE 21A fire broke out at the 7 Race Course Road residence of Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral late in the afternoon today. A sudden underground explosion and thick smoke around 4.25 pm inside the compound spread panic in the area and Special Protection Group (SPG) sleuths swamped the place with their arms drawn.

The fire broke out barely 15 minutes after the Prime Minister reached home, sources said. He was, however, not injured in the fire which is suspected to be a result of an overloaded underground electric cable which burst into flames uprooting the surface near the SPG reception, sources said. Flames leapt into the air and emergency fire tenders were rushed to the site. However, no one was injured in the blast, it is learnt.

The inmates initially feared that some terrorist outfit had blasted its way through the underground sewer system. Experts were called in immediately to find out the cause of the fire. Fire department officials said that they panicked the moment they received the call from the Prime Minister's house.

Already at their wit's end, tackling the spate of fire incidents in the capital, the department officials rushed to the spot expecting the worst. ``Fortunately the fire was not big and was controlled immediately,'' an official said. He said that they were lucky that the fault was not a major one otherwise the consequences would have been disastrous. There was not much fire fighting but fire officials stayed put and the entire cable system was reinspected.

SPG men lashed out at the Central Public Works Department saying that had something happened it would have been their necks on the chopping block and not the works department.

Till past 9.00 pm, both CPWD and NDMC workers were inspecting the entire cable network.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.