CM orders safety auditing of buildings

SHILLONG, JAN 7: In the aftermath of the recent 6.7 Manipur-earthquake, Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma on Thursday directed all existing infrastructures including ‘lifeline buildings’ in the state to be put under complete ‘safety-auditing’.

Sangma told reporters after the cabinet meeting, “There is a need for all government authorities to audit the existing infrastructures, particularly the lifeline buildings in the state and respective districts are subjected to complete safety auditing on priority basis.”

As safety auditing has not been carried out in the state, Sangma said, “I have directed all authorities concerned now to urgently attend to this issue and get all experts for achieving this purpose.”

Sangma questioned whether the hospitals are designed and built to withstand the kind of tremor that can strike this part of the region, and whether the office of the Deputy Commissioner, police headquarter, Superintendent of Police are design and built in the format to withstand the tremor or not is required to be audited on an urgent basis.

According to Sangma, if disaster strikes it is the district administration, police and other authorities under the disaster management umbrella who have to respond and save lives not forgetting the important medical team and hospitals.

Sangma informed, “I have had discussion with the health engineering wing and had asked them whether they had and have designed the hospitals with parameters that is structurally capable of withstanding any kind of tremor if a disaster strike this part of the world based on what the state had experienced in 1897 and what is predicted in the years to come.

Sangma said that there has to be an aggressive and open engagement with all stakeholders and get them into the loop while actually moving ahead to deal for preparing the state to meet any kind of challenges.

When asked, Sangma said, “I have called for a meeting and I have advice my senior officers to call for a meeting where all concern departments will sit along with the stakeholders and discuss this important issue.”-By Our Reporter