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Fire devastates Meghalaya assembly building

A blaze reduced the historic Meghalaya legislative assembly building to ashes. The fire was was still raging, Speaker E D Marak said in Shillong.

"There was however no report of any casualty," Marak who was supervising fire fighting operations told PTI.

Firemen with 15 fire tenders were battling the blaze which raced through the colonial-style pinewood building, Marak said.

He said he rushed to the spot at 1930 hrs after hearing that a fire had broken out in the assembly building.

"But by then the fire was raging out of control," he said.

The assembly hall and adjoining offices had been razed with all records and documents lost, the Speaker said.

The leaping flames brought people rushing out of their homes to the assembly precincts, located at Police Bazar, the main business centre.

Marak said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

''An inquiry is necessary to determine the cause of the blaze,'' he said.

The building was constructed before Independence by the British.

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