Editor,
It is tragic to hear the sudden and yet unfortunate destruction of Shillong’s famous institution Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Girls Higher Secondary School in a fire incident snuffing out all exquisite antiques and age old records. I send my deepest condolences to the patrons and fraternity of this institution which has churned out laurels in the past.
The institution inspite of being a heritage building should have taken utmost SOPs to prevent disasters and most importantly had the role of INTACH been taken in tagging the school under its ambit, perhaps proper guidelines would have helped prevent this disaster.
The state government should come out with a State Heritage Act and deliberate on what provisions shall be put to identify and categorise the types of institutions as heritage sites just as the living root-bridges have been put under the UNESCO map.
Dominic Stadlin Wankhar
Shillong
