Girls school building gutted in Haripur

HARIPUR: The building of the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Sirikot was completely burnt when a heavy fire broke out for unknown reasons, school staff and area people said here on Monday.

The police believed that it was due to short-circuiting and there was hardly any chance of criminal activity involvement. “But we have started an inquiry into the causes of the incident while the commissioner of Hazara has also ordered a probe”, said Raja Muhammad Bashir Khan, DSP, Ghazi, while talking to The News.

The Ghazi police station’s SHO Amir Khan quoted the school principal as saying that at around 8.40 am, the fire erupted from the wooden ceiling of one of the British-styled rooms and engulfed the entire building as the roofs were made of corrugated Iron sheets with wooden ceiling and the roofs caved in one after the other.

However, the girl students who were 500 plus taking classes were rescued by staff members and teachers by the villagers.There was no loss of life or injury to anyone luckily.

The inferno could be brought under control after an effort of three hours. The roofs of all 14 classrooms with staff rooms and offices and school furniture, records and books were completely burnt.

According to the school administration, the Ghazi police was informed and the contingent of police was the first to reach and help bring the situation under control.The fire engines from Ghazi, Haripur, Tarbela and the rescue 1122 reached one after the other and managed to extinguish the inferno.

According to police and Education Department officials, the school building was not safe for continuing educational activities after the fire.It may be mentioned here that Sirikot is one of the famous villages of Haripur district and the native area of former chief minister and senior PMLN politician Pir Sabir Shah and is situated at a distance of three kilometers from Tarbela Dam offices.

The school was built with the efforts of late retired federal secretary Nasr Minallah Khan, the father of Supreme Court’s judge Athar Minallah in the early 70s.