Rs 3.81 lakh recovered from Assembly building

SHILLONG, January 13: As the 80-year-old Meghalaya Legislative Assembly perished in a devastating fire on January 9 last, with it losing many valuable documents spanning over more than a century. While around 8.30 pm on that fateful night firemen, Army, Air Force and paramilitary forces were trying hard to douse the inferno, Assembly cashier T Sangma risking his life entered his office room where an amount of Rs 5.16 lakh was kept. According to Sangma, he heard about the fire incident at 8.15 pm and rushed to the incident site. As he was concerned about the money and some important papers of his section, he braved the blaze and saw that the metal almirah, where the money had been kept, was already in flames. He with the help of firemen tried to put out the fire and managed to retrieve only Rs 3,81,155 lakh. Immediately, the matter was brought to the notice of the senior police officer on duty. According to police, as the safe was being taken to the sadar police thana for safe custody, the lock got loosened due to extensive heat. They immediately brought it back to the Assembly premises where it was locked a new in fronts of all officers concerned. Finally, the half burnt money with is numbers intact was counted at the police station.