Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today visited the under construction building of the new assembly complex in Mawdiangdiang.
“Workers are now engaged in clearing the rubble of the damages in order to resume construction works,” the Chief Minister tweeted.
The work on the new Assembly building on 80 acres of land was started in June 2019. It was to be completed by September 2022, when the dome came crashing on May 21, 2022 resulting in major damage to the central wing of the building.
An embarrassed state government was forced to appoint a third party team to investigate the cause and to carry out a safety audit on the rest of the building that still stood after the collapse.
The dome of the new Assembly building collapsed because it was too heavy for the supports that were meant to hold it up, the report into the disaster by IIT Guwahati has found. It also reported that lack of coordination between designers and contractors.
The State Assembly dome collapse has thrown up many names and firms of those involved in construction. Badri Rai and Company (BRC) was sub-contracted to work on the Assembly building by the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd (UPRNNL), which had been given the contract to build the Assembly building by the State authorities.
BJP MLA Alexander L Hek had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking high level enquiry into the “questionable bidding process” and allotment of contract for construction of the new Assembly building.
Hek had said the “unholy coalition” between UPRNNL and BRC has caused great damage to the State and has not only brought ignominy but also a huge amount of loss to the State exchequer.
New Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Thomas A Sangma last week also visited the site and said that the high-powered committee would be reconstituted to expedite completion of the building.
The IIT-Guwahati has been asked to expedite the approval of the new design for the dome.
