Meghalaya CM orders inquiry into Police Bazaar fire incident

SHILLONG, Oct 16: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today ordered an inquiry after an entire building was gutted down in the busy Police Bazaar area, resulting in the loss of one life and property and items worth crores.

Sangma together with other senior officials, including Chief Secretary DP Wahlang, Director General of Police LR Bishnoi visited the site and met the owner of the property.

The fire broke out on Saturday afternoon and took more than 24 hours to douse the fire. Items such as mattresses, furniture and others were stored within the building and were doubled as a godown.

Sangma after inspecting the site, held a review meeting with the officials and ordered an inquiry and asked the officials to submit a report on the incident. He has asked 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 difficult for fire service to enter,” the CM said.

He said fighting the fire was a challenging task, but personnel from the fire service, army, air force, Assam Rifles, BSF, police and the community came together to contain the situation.

Lauding the efforts of all stakeholders in dousing the fire Sangma said a detailed investigation will be conducted into 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 added.

Meanwhile, the incident would be one of the agendas of the cabinet meeting to be held on October 18.