Questions Raised Over Safety of Haflong Supermarket Building After Schoolgirl Falls

Hills Live News,Haflong, September 9: Serious questions have been raised over the safety of the Haflong Supermarket building after a Class VII student sustained serious injuries after falling from the building on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Samir Majumdar, Principal of Haflong PM Shri Higher Secondary Girls’ School, the incident occurred at around 2 pm after the school was dismissed. The girl, a resident of Haflong and a Class VII student of the school, reportedly fell from the Haflong Supermarket building after a railing gave way.
The student sustained serious injuries in the incident. School authorities, after receiving information about the accident, immediately rescued her and took her to Haflong Civil Hospital, where she is currently undergoing treatment.
The incident has once again brought into focus longstanding concerns over the structural safety of the Supermarket building. Local residents have alleged that the building had been considered unsafe or unsuitable for use for several years, yet public movement and business activities continued there.
If the building had indeed been declared unsafe, questions are being raised as to why access to the premises was not restricted and why commercial activities were allowed to continue.
Residents are also demanding to know whether the authorities had conducted regular physical inspections of the building, whether any order had been issued to vacate or restrict its use, and, if so, whether such directions were actually implemented.
The accident has intensified concerns over the safety of other old and potentially vulnerable buildings in Haflong. Residents have urged the authorities to conduct an immediate safety audit of such structures and clearly identify buildings that are safe, those requiring urgent repairs and those where public access should be prohibited.
They have also called for a detailed investigation into the circumstances leading to the schoolgirl’s fall, including the condition of the railing and the building’s previous safety assessments, inspection reports, permissions for use and any directions issued by the authorities.
While the exact cause of the accident will have to be established through an investigation, residents say that responsibility must also be fixed if any negligence is found.
The incident has therefore raised a larger question: if the risks associated with a building were known beforehand, why was adequate preventive action not taken before a schoolgirl was put in danger?
The attention is now on the concerned authorities to determine the actual safety status of the Supermarket building and take immediate steps to prevent any recurrence.