Hyderabad: Monday night's fire at Old Airport in Begumpet in Hyderabad caused a damage of over Rs 100 crore, with destruction of six trainee aircraft and one helicopter, official sources said, as the state CID took over the probe. Following a direction from the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to take over the probe, CID sleuths visited the spot on Tuesday, Additional Director General (CID) T Krishna Prasad said.
An Andhra Pradesh government-owned Augusta (Westland) chopper, meant for the use of the Chief Minister, and six trainee aircraft belonging to a training academy, parked in the hangar, were destroyed. "It (fire) appears to be due to short-circuit. However, we are probing all angles. According to eye witnesses, the fire started following a short-circuit. The loss could be in the range of Rs 100 crore. We are yet to come to conclusion," Prasad said.
Ten fire tenders from the state fire department and a few others from the Air Force station at Hakimpet managed to bring the blaze under control after about three hours. "We will conduct a high-level inquiry by a senior official like Home Secretary to find out the reasons for the fire and whether there is any sabotage etc," said Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Infrastructure and Ports, in Visakhapatnam.
The helicopter had been purchased in 2009 for around Rs 63 crore, and was insured, the Minister said. In 2008, the Begumpet airport was closed for normal passenger services after an international airport came up at Shamshabad; it is now used for VIP traffic and training. Meanwhile, late this evening the Andhra Pradesh government announced constitution of a three-member committee to probe the fire.
Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, IYR Krishna Rao will head the probe panel that includes the Principal Secretary (Home) and the Assistant Director of Air Safety in the DGCA office, according to the order issued by Chief Secretary Minnie Mathew. The committee has been asked to submit report to the government immediately.
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