Informing this to newsmen, Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Speaker Charles Pyngrope said that all efforts would be made to ensure that the new Assembly complex be an architectural wonder. The Speaker also stated that architects from Mumbai would be assigned the job to construct the building as currently they were the best in terms of ‘understanding space constraints’.
The complex will now house adequate rooms to accommodate 18 odd committees so as to provide them with needed facilities to carry out their regular business, especially when the House is not in session. He remarked this will be of great help to various committees in effectively discharging their duties while Public Accounts Committee and Committee on Public Undertaking will be able to effectively monitor the functioning of the executive.
The Speaker also said that as agreed and decided by previous speakers, the work will go to contractor C Pala. He expressed the hope that if construction starts this year, the Budget Session 2012 could be held in the new complex. Pyngrope also said that the new complex would have water harvesting facility to cater to the needs of the Assembly. Minimal use of light during daytime will be one of the features of the proposed complex. He also stated that the new Assembly will house a well-equipped media centre with State-of-the-art facilities backed by high-speed WIFY services to enable mediapersons to discharge their duties in a more professional manner.
The Speaker also stated it is up to the government now to decide on the allotment of land even as his office has formally written to the government with survey details of the two proposed sites — namely the old site and Taraghar located opposite the Pristine Wards Lake. The old site is only of two acres, but the complex will need six acres. This is to be mentioned that Meghalaya is without a permanent Assembly building since the massive inferno had gutted the old heritage structure located in the heart of Shillong