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Published : 31 Oct 2014, 07:03 PM
Ntv had resumed its transmission after five hours while it took nearly eight hours for Rtv to recommence telecast.
The fire broke out at the top floor of the 10-storey building of the Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) at around 10:45am on Friday.
The building houses offices of about 30 organisations including the two channels and Amar Desh.
After the fire started, chief news editors of Ntv and Rtv – Zahirul Alam and Anowar Haq respectively – had said around noon their channels went off the air after the power connections were cut following the fire.
After fire-fighters brought the blaze under control around 2pm, Ntv took alternative measures and resumed broadcast around 5:30pm.
Rtv's deputy chief news editor Rajib Khan said they resumed transmission with alternative power supply around 8pm.
Ntv occupies seventh to ninth floors while Rtv is on the fifth floor. Office of Daily Amar Desh is housed on the top floor. Ntv also has two tin-shed transmission rooms on the roof.
However, what caused the blaze is not yet clear, although fire-fighters suspect it originated from a storehouse on the top floor.
Fire-fighters had said there were no casualties.
On Feb 26, 2007, three people were killed and 10 offices, including those of the Ntv, Rtv and Amar Desh, destroyed in a fire in the same building. The total extent of damage then was “billions of taka”.
Ntv Chairman and Managing Director Mosaddak Ali Falu at the scene said he suffered losses each time the building caught fire. "They (fire incidents) are investigated but no report is ever filed," he alleged.
"It's necessary to know why fire is recurrent in this building."
