The Meghalaya government is set to seek an explanation from all concerned stakeholders following the report submitted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) which stated that ‘lack of coordination’ led to the collapse of the new Meghalaya Assembly building dome.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma told reporters on Friday that the report of the IITG was placed before the High Powered Committee (HPC) during its meeting chaired by Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh.
He said the IITG in its findings had indicated that the reasons that led to the incident were the overall weight of the dome was too heavy and that there was a total lack of coordination between the different agencies that include the designers, contractors and project management consultant (PMC) because had it been done properly the entire situation could have been avoided.
Sangma also announced that the rest of the new Assembly building was found to be safe and all foundation and structural strengths were as per standards according to the final findings of the IITG report.
The chief minister informed that the HPC has instructed the state government to immediately call all the different stakeholders which are designers, contractors and the PMC for an explanation based on the report.
“So the government will be calling all the stakeholders for an explanation based on the report. The government will come up with suggestions on what further process should follow and will place the same before the HPC which will again sit within the next one week or ten days’ time,” he said.
On HPC’s move to still go ahead with the idea of a dome structure, Sangma said that the report had specifically mentioned that if the HPC decides to go ahead with the dome structure, then it should be a lighter weight structure.
“The report says it should replace the dome structure with a light steel tubular truss structure covered with CGI sheet. They have suggested that which basically means that the structure can still be a dome but it should be much lighter as compared to the 4.50 lakh kgs of the dome that was there in the initial structure which was concrete and steel and other structures that were there,” he said adding that the decision on the matter will be taken by the HPC.
Whether responsibility will be fixed on the different agencies, the chief minister said that the government will first seek an explanation from them before deciding on a future course of action.
“We have to seek their explanation why this has happened and we will hear their side of the story and once we hear all of that then will take a decision on all those aspects (including the cost of damage),” he added.
