The building houses the office of the commandant of the Civil Task Force, though the commandant sits in a nearby building.
The arson came a day ahead of the Khasi Students’ Union-sponsored second round of agitation, starting 8pm tomorrow, against uranium mining. During the first round of agitation last week, supporters had set ablaze six government vehicles.
The chowkidar of the office, L.B. Chettri, was snoozingoutside the office after a night’s vigil when three masked persons barged into the premises and asked him to open the main door. “They asked me to open the door but I refused,” a shaken Chettri said.
The goons then forced open a window of the three-room office, sprinkled petrol as far as they could, lit a matchstick and threw it inside. It was around 6.30am but still semi-dark on a chilly morning the Meghalaya capital.
Chettri could only watch in horror as the flames licked everything that crossed their path and grew into an inferno as they fed on papers in files and the abundant wood used to build such Assam-type houses.
The main damage was done to the big main room, where 10 employees sit. The two smaller rooms are mainly used to store unimportant files and discarded furniture. Many official files, furniture, typewriters, electric heaters and a television were charred in the fire.
The chowkidar tried to douse the fire with the help of neighbours but in vain. “Ultimately, firemen arrived to douse the fire which engulfed the inside portion of the building,” said Ajay Subedi, an LDA attached with the Civil Task Force.
There are around 111 daily wage workers registered with the Civil Task Force, which is under the labour department. The commandant co-ordinates the appointment of workers for various road constructions.
“Our task will now be difficult as the files containing the names of workers and the nature of their daily allowances were destroyed,” an official of the Civil Task Force said, adding that the damage to the office was “around 80 per cent”.
East Khasi Hills superintendent of police L.B. Rapthap said nobody had been arrested so far.
“We are yet to identify those involved in the torching of the office though the finger of suspicion is towards KSU volunteers,” he added.
The old building of Meghalaya Assembly was reduced to ashes in a towering inferno on January 9, 2001, but it was not a case of arson.
Most government offices here are housed in old Assam-type buildings built years ago.
The police said they would deploy more forces in and around the government buildings.
The home department had earlier given instructions to state government departments to keep vigil to prevent the destruction of government property during the KSU agitation. Despite this, there have been instances of torching of government buildings and vehicles.
With the KSU again resorting to a three-day night road blockade starting from tomorrow night till 5am the next day, police have decided to intensify vigil on the roads connecting the three states of Assam, Tripura and Mizoram.
“We will deploy more forces on the highway for smooth flow of traffic,” Rapthap said. The night road blockade called by the KSU will end on October 23.