Critical records destroyed in Gorton Castle fire

Original records of several government employees, particularly pensioners, were destroyed in a fire that broke out in the century-old Gorton Castle, destroying 60 out of 125 rooms.

Principal Accountant General (AG), Himachal Pradesh, Satish Loomba said that the fire had destroyed two top floors of the castle and it was tough to ascertain the exact loss this early. "We are hopeful that we could retrieve the records from our servers but we cannot retrieve the records still not updated on computers," said Loomba.

A highly placed AG official told to Hindustan times that there were hundreds of service books of employees who were going to retire soon with the AG officer. Employees who retired before 2006 were listed in registers-destroyed in fire. "After 2006, the entire record has been computerized," he added.

This incident could delay the process of pension benefit to the pensioners, as AG has to ask all departments to send employees records, especially service books all over again.

In the meanwhile, the AG office will function out of the railway board building as it has some space there.