Shillong, Oct 16: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday visited the building of Singhania family at Thana Road in the city which was gutted by fire on Saturday and called for audit of the building.
The four -storey building had several godowns.
The fire tenders were still trying to douse the fire. The fire service personnel including those from the Defence forces worked for more than 40 hours.
The chief minister met the family and expressed his concern and acknowledged the efforts of army, police, fire service and all stakeholders who were involved in containing the situation.
The chief minister was accompanied by Chief Secretary DP Wahlang, DGP LR Bishnoi and other senior officials.
The chief minister, after a review meeting with the officials, asked them to submit a report on the incident, which has claimed one life. He wanted the officials to conduct all safety audits of the building and ascertain the cause of the fire.
“The incident had the potential to be disastrous as it was in the middle of the market area, which was congested and was difficult for the fire service to come in. It was a challenging task, but all concerned departments and officials, especially fire service, army, air force, Assam Rifles, BSF, police, administration and the community all came together to contain the situation”, he said.
He lauded the efforts of all stakeholders, who ensured that the fire did not spread out from the affected building to the other adjoining buildings and houses. He informed that a detailed investigation will be conducted on the incident to ascertain the cause of the fire.
“We will closely look into the matter and come up with a response mechanism on how we can contain and avoid such a situation in future”, he said.
He said that the building had several godowns which made the entire operation challenging but all stakeholders have shown their utmost commitment in dealing with the situation. He said that safety audits and other measures will also be taken up to ensure that such situations do not arise in future. He also said that a cabinet meeting on October 18 will be held to discuss the matter.
