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Extreme high temperatures in Rajasthan led to the fire at the Mirdhwal arms depot, Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi said in New Delhi.
Saying this he excused the men on duty at the arms depot and added that preliminary information indicated that it was not because of human error.
"It is an accident and accidents do happen," he said. However, he said that army is treating the incident with "utmost importance" because "our combat potential is affected".
The army has ordered a court of inquiry into the fire, he said.
The vice-chief admitted that there "are some weaknesses due to constraints of money and time". He said the danger of a fire destroying army's buildings, tanks was real, "so we are very serious about the entire issue."
He said the army is making all attempts to improve the situation at arms depots and a special sanction had been made for construction of storage facilities.
"It is not that we don't know about the possibility of fire," he said.
On the withdrawal of the Kashmir ceasefire, Lt General Oberoi said the army would act according to the government's decision. He dismissed claims that the militants had taken an upper hand during the ceasefire.
"As far as the army is concerned, the situation was in control before the non-initiation of combat operations, it continued to remain under control and I am confident that it will remain so in the future," he said.
He said during the ceasefire, the army had been carrying out operations only on "specific actionable intelligence". Even now, the army will only take action keeping in mind that it does not alienate the locals, he added.
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