SHILLONG, May 24: The collapse of or damage to several government projects in earthquake-prone Meghalaya has prompted a safety audit of a few old government buildings in the city.
The state sits on the highly seismic Zone 5. Structural designers have to factor this in to come up with earthquake-resistant structures.
Forget strong tremors, these government projects are falling apart after prolonged spells of rain, raising questions about the safety of the employees.
An official from the PWD (Buildings) said the safety audit of the Secretariat and the Horseshoe building, the most important offices in the city is being carried out.
“The safety audit will take about three months to complete,” he said.
Experts from IIT-Guwahati and NIT-Meghalaya are carrying out the safety audit of the Secretariat and the Horseshoe building (old MPSC office at Lachumiere).
The government is also planning the safety audit of other government offices such as the ITI building in Rynjah and the Shillong Polytechnic. The official said some old buildings housing central government offices such as BSNL and AG should be audited too. “The government should write to these central government offices for their safety auditing,” he added.
The collapse of the dome of the under-construction Meghalaya Assembly building is not the first such case in the state. A few days ago, the roof of the newly-built Shillong Inter-State Bus Terminus began leaking.
If that were not enough, the walls of the ISBT worth Rs 48 crore developed cracks.
Following heavy rain, a bridge on the Mawlai Bypass where traffic is minimal also developed cracks.
Another bridge on the 3-km stretch from Mindikgre to Garo Songgital was damaged three months after its completion. This bridge across the Dangsu stream was constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
Earlier this year, the strategic Sonapur bridge that connects Meghalaya with the Cachar district of Assam and other Northeastern states also developed cracks.
A few years ago, the Dwar-Ksuid bridge on the Shillong Bypass was also damaged after which the government constructed a Bailey bridge that was also damaged on a couple of occasions.
