Fire guts major part of UP Stock Exchange

A major part of the air conditioned building of the UP Stock Exchange at Kanpur was gutted due to a fire that broke out on the ground floor.

The fire, which started from the vice-president's room "" it has been under lock since there is no vice president in the bourse "" spread quickly, to a part of the first floor and the whole of the second and third floors. This led to complete burning down of about 70 cabins of leading brokers and that of the trading hall.

The transparent roof of the hall made of fibre was also partly burnt. The losses run into crores of rupees, said A C Pande, executive director of the exchange. The full loss will be known only when the surveyors make an assessment.

The adjacent multi storeyed building of the complex , which also houses brokers and offices like those of Stock Holding Corporation, and the master computer room were, however, saved due to timely action by brokers, the bourses authorities and the fire brigade personnel.

Pande said the distributor panel in the vice-president's room caught fire first. Since the room had plenty of inflammable material like curtains, unused furniture "" it was being used as a dumping room "" the fire spread quickly. It could not be detected early because the room was locked.

However, trading resumed this morning on the bourse and brokers whose cabins were gutted were given alternative cabins.

Some brokers reverted to the outcry system since they had no other facility to trade.

The inferno also fired up the hostility that the brokers habour towards the administration, in place since the supercession of the board, and towards the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Agitated brokers pointed out that if the trading hall was not locked then the fire would have been controlled immediately.

The brokers have been seeking the reopening of the trading hall, which was locked under the orders of Sebi, since it alleged that the brokers assemble over there and do badla, which the regulator has banned.