SHILLONG : Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday visited the Directorate of Mineral Resources (DMR) office at Risa Colony after miscreants allegedly hurled a petrol bomb at the premises, damaging a private vehicle parked inside the compound.
The Chief Minister, accompanied by the Chief Secretary and senior government officials, took stock of the situation and assured assistance towards the repair expenses of the damaged vehicle.
DMR Director MB Tongper said the Chief Minister directed that government assistance be provided since the damaged vehicle belongs to a staff member and is privately owned.
“The CM assessed the situation. He said that since the vehicle belongs to staff and it is a private vehicle, the government will help with the expenses,” Tongper said.
He added that the Chief Minister also stressed the need for installing additional CCTV cameras at government offices.
“The CM also stressed the need to install more CCTVs, not just for us but for other office buildings so that such incidents can be detected,” Tongper said.
Petrol bomb hits vehicle during office hours
The incident occurred at around 3:32 pm, while employees were still on duty at the DMR office.
The petrol bomb struck an Alto car bearing registration number ML 05 AC 0429, belonging to a DMR officer, and the vehicle caught fire.
Recounting the incident, Tongper said he was inside his room after attending a meeting when he heard the sound of breaking glass.
“I was in this room, I had a meeting and I just heard the sound of glass breaking. I thought a vehicle had hit a pillar, but when we looked properly, we saw that there was a fire. The vehicle caught fire from the front,” he said.
Tongper said staff members immediately responded and managed to extinguish the fire within a few minutes.
“Luckily our staff were outside and within just 4-5 minutes we were able to douse the fire. We extinguished it immediately,” he added.
Police launch investigation
The DMR informed the police, fire service and Deputy Commissioner following the incident.
The fire service subsequently arrived at the location, although the blaze had already been extinguished by the staff.
Police from Laitumkhrah Police Station have launched an investigation following the registration of two FIRs — one filed by the DMR Director and another by the staff member who owns the damaged vehicle.
Tongper said the department has shared all available information with the police.
“We don’t know who is involved. This is the first time such an incident has happened and we don’t know for what reason it happened. We have shared everything with the police and investigation is underway,” he said.