Engineers’ forum slams inefficiency in city’s fire-preparedness
Guwahati: Expressing utter dismay over the failure in dousing of a massive blaze, engulfing a city high-rise building for days, northeast India based All Assam Engineers’ Association (AAEA) termed it a collective breakdown of various agencies, including the authorities that certified the constriction with little provisions for responding during a disaster. The forum of graduate engineers urged the State government to take stringent actions against all the guilty officials who overlooked important precautionary measures while permitting its construction and subsequent occupations.
Mentionable is that the said multi-storey commercial complex at Christianbasti locality caught fire on the midnight of 9-10 December 2025 and shockingly it continues till today (11 December) covering all six floors housing a big shopping mall and several offices of State Bank of India. A number of fire brigade vehicles comprising firefighters were engaged in the actions to bring the blaze under control, but in vain. No casualty or injury to anyone is reported till now, even though the property loss may make up to few million rupees.
“It’s shocking that the inferno is yet to be doused, which creates panic among the city-dwellers over the incompetent fire-preparedness of the authorities. Moreover, nothing is revealed about the attentiveness mounted in the complex for such a disaster,” said AAEA president Er Kailash Sarma, working president Er Nava J Thakuria and secretary Er Inamul Hye, adding that the time has come for the government at Dispur to recalibrate all precautionary measures for the tall urban structures to fight any kind of disaster including the fire and earthquake.
