Meghalaya: Newly Constructed Assembly's steel dome collapses

A portion of the newly constructed Meghalaya Legislative Assembly building collapsed but there were no reported injury, officials said on Sunday. The 70 tonne dome of the Rs 177.7 crore building constructed by a UP-based UPNRNNL collapsed at around 12:30 am last night, as per report.

According to an Executive Engineer of PWD (Building) overseeing the construction, the collapse could have been triggered by a design fault.

“The weight of the steel dome was perhaps too much for the columns and the beams to bear. This resulted in the entire structure coming down,” PWD Executive Engineer Ransom Sutnga told PTI.

He said it would take another two weeks to clear the debris.

The engineer who rushed to the site early morning said that it would take at least another 8 months to raise a new dome structure. Assembly officials said the designs of the entire building was approved and vetted by officials of the IIT-Rourkee.

Work on the new building was started in June 2019and was to be completed by August 2022.