Military Hospital gutted
From S. P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 22 — The historic building housing the Military Hospital here was reduced to ashes in a devastating fire early today. Five fire tenders, including one of the Army, battled the flame for three hours but failed to save the structure.

The Military Hospital, popularly known as "Walker Hospital" was a relic of the British Raj situated at a commanding point on Cart Road.

There was no casualty in the fire as the 20 indoor patients had been removed as soon as the fire was noticed by the sentry on duty.

The Commanding Officer of the hospital, Colonel (Mrs) Anju Manchanda, said that the fire broke out at 1.55 a.m. after a short circuit in the main switchboard, where sparks were witnessed.

An enquiry has been ordered into the incident by the military authorities. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ram Subhag Singh, has ordered a separate magisterial enquiry to be conducted by Mr H.N. Kashyap, Additional District Magistrate.

Colonel Manchanda said that the 96-year-old wooden building went up in flames within minutes, helped by oxygen cylinders and the jute matting on the floor. As the entire building was quickly engulfed hardly anything could be retrieved. Even what little was extricated melted from the intense heat of the burning structure.

The entire hospital complex, consisting of wards, operation theatres, medicine stores, laboratories, X-ray equipment, gynaecology, surgery and eye departments was burnt to ashes. The administrative block was also burnt gutting the record of the hospital, saving certificates and other documents. The loss has been estimated at over Rs 8 crore. Army personnel, including Capt Surinder Singh, sustained burns in fire-fighting operations.

Colonel Manchanda said that the fire was prevented from spreading to the residential block and officers mess by timely demolition of a connecting staircase. But two vehicles which could not be removed, were gutted.

She said equipment worth about Rs 30 lakh had been added to the hospital only recently. The hospital's patients are being shifted to the military hospital in Jutogh Cantonment here.

The Walker Hospital's jurisdiction extended upto as far Pooh, bordering Tibet in Kinnaur district.

The fire-fighting operation was initially hampered as the fire hydrant across the road had been buried under the rubble of a dental college under construction near the hospital.

The Walker Hospital fire comes exactly three years after the burning of the Station Headquarter building near the Mall. The Western Command station headquarter was gutted in a fire on December 22, 1995.

The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, visited the fire site in the morning.

The bed capacity of the hospital, initially 20 was later increased to 100. The Walker Hospital, named after Sir J.L. Walker, a British banker was constructed on May 1, 1902 for European and Eurasian patients. It was converted into a military hospital in 1954.

Sir Walker had originally donated his magnificent Gorton Castle for European patients after the Ripon Hospital got overcrowded. But after objections were raised over location of the hospital in the Gorton Castle, right on The Mall, the managing committee resold the property for Rs 1.20 lakh to the Government of India. The Walker Hospital was then constructed in 1902 at its present site, for which land was given free of cost by the Punjab Government, which also paid Rs 40,000 towards the building fund.

This is the first major fire in the town this winter. Among the landmarks gutted in previous fires are the Peterhoff, Kennedy House, the Western Command building and the Foreign Office.