MEGHALAYA:
Two days after the dome of the Meghalaya assembly building in Mawdiangdiang, New Shillong Township, crumbled the government decided to carry out an audit of the under-construction building by an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), on May 24.
“The high-power committee (HPC) has decided to go for a third-party audit, which will investigate the reasons for the collapse of the dome. The auditing team will comprise of experts from one of the three IITs – Guwahati, Delhi and Kolkata – depending on their readiness,” said Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh, post an inspection of the site, on Tuesday. However, there is no IIT in Kolkata, and the only IIT in West Bengal is in Kharagpur.
Lyngdoh added that the Public Works Department (Building) has been assigned to contact and communicate with the IITs on the matter. “Pending the report, work at the central wing of the building will remain suspended,” he added.
The Speaker also said that the audit team, besides probing into the dome debacle, will also assess the strength of other portions of the building such as the left and right wing, corridors of the main hall, the reception, chambers of the Speaker, the Chief Minister and other areas of the floor, along with the ground floor and the basement.
Metbah further informed that the HPC is looking forward to acquire the audit report as early as possible to decide on the next course of action. “No timeframe has been set for it,” informed Lyngdoh. The meeting of the committee was chaired by Lyngdoh and was attended by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma, PWD (Buildings) Minister Dasakhiat Lamare and others.
The other decisions that were taken in the meeting include prohibition on entry of outsiders or unauthorised persons for safety reasons and covering the open area created after the collapse of the dome to ensure there is no water leakage in the building.
Lyngdoh also claimed that he is not aware if construction works of the Assembly can be subcontracted to other companies. “Those are technical part of the agreement I think we have to look into the agreement it is there or not I am not aware as that has been done by the PWD (Buildings),” he said.
Clarifying the issue, PWD (Buildings) minister Dasakhiat Lamare informed that it is allowed but only a small percentage. “In this particular project, 40% of the project is allowed to subcontract to a different company for the construction,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that the inquiry has to be done by a technical body.