Shillong: While Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh on Monday expressed disappointment over the incident of the collapse of the dome at the new Assembly Building at Mawdiangdiang Shillong on Sunday, he said an independent inquiry must be constituted to fix accountability.
While Lyngdoh refused to make any ‘premature comments’ at this point, the Speaker added the incident was a big blow after numerous review meetings were held to check on the progress of construction. He said the entire dome has dropped to the centre of the ground.
The Speaker said he would inspect the site along with chief minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday morning. Following the inspection, a meeting of the High Power Committee (HPC) is expected to be held while the main consultant from Delhi, who arrived in Shillong on Monday evening, will be joining the Speaker to assess damages at the site.
“I want to mention two things as far as my understanding is concerned. The reason (for the collapse of the dome) could either be a fault in the design of the construction or faulty construction itself,” Lyngdoh said.
All the engineers involved in the project have been summoned from Delhi along with the consultant, he said.
“They have been trying to explain to me to some extent but I am not satisfied. From their end, it appears a lot of debris has accumulated in the central hall where the dome fell. They will not be able to tell us right now what was the actual reason is. It’s all based on assumptions right now, which isn’t right,” said Lyngdoh.
The Speaker said an independent inquiry should be constituted to find out what exactly happened but this will be proposed in the meeting on Tuesday. He added that there should be a third party audit to ensure that the structure like the left and right wing, which were not damaged, have been affected or not.
The Speaker expressed concern that if the incident had taken place during the day, it could have been worse. “This incident should not hold us back, we have to complete this project if not this year but atleast early next year,” said the Speaker.
The new Assembly building is being constructed on 80 acres of land at Mawdiangdiang in New Shillong Township. The project, amounting to Rs 127 crore, is being developed by the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd, a PSU of the Uttar Pradesh government.
It is worth mentioning here that the dome that collapsed at the new Assembly building was fitted recently. It is also one of the parts of the building that had taken a considerable construction time. The crane used for the purpose of lifting and installing the dome structure of the new building took almost one-and-a-half months to come all the way from Chennai by road.
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