BPO Father Raman Roy in fire scare
By Rajiv Kumar

Fire swept through the offices of one of the most respected CEO’s and founding fathers of Indian BPO’s, Raman Roy.  Scores of computers and other office equipment worth lakhs of rupees were reduced to ashes when three floors of corporate offices and the main facility of Raman Roy’s Quatrro BPO Solutions in Gurgaon caught fire.

According to officials of the Fire Department,  the fire that had broken out at the fifth floor of the building in the wee hours and gone unnoticed, had engulfed the sixth and seventh floor  before it was extinguished in a daring two-hour operation.
 
Over heating of the computers and other equipment such as air conditioners which were left running by the office staff may have resulted in a short circuit in the electricity wiring, the fire department officials said. More than four fire tenders supported by the hi-rise hydraulic platform (turn-table) took about two hours to douse out the fire.
 
Fortunately, since none of the staff were present in the office, there were no casualties.
 
As the security guards of the multi-storied Quatrro BPO Solutions noticed the fire on April 30, they informed the fire department at about 5.10 am.
 
According to the fire department officials, the guards did not notice the fire that had probably broken out much earlier on the fifth floor in the wee hours of the day because of the double glass cover of the building. However, when the fire turned fierce and engulfed the sixth and seventh floor and some of the glass fell on the ground, that the guards noticed the raging fire and informed fire department.
 
It was for the first time that the fire department used the hi-rise hydraulic platform (turn-table) in any hi-rise fire fighting operation. This equipment was imported at a cost of Rs. nine crore for fire fighting in hi-rise apartments and complexes by the government early this year, but was not used in any operation.
 
According to the fire officers the hydraulic platform proved very effective in the Quatrro incident as entry to the fire-struck floors from inside the building had become impossible due to the searing heat. It was only due to this platform that the firemen could reach the burning floors directly, the officials said.

According to an office insider, Mr. Nice Guy Raman Roy was more concerned about his staff and clients than his own losses.