Cotton College. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

March 4: Shaken by the B. Borooah College fire, city colleges today got down to the task of toning up their disaster management cells.

Handique Girls? College, the first girls? college in the state and the second oldest educational institution in the city after Cotton College, convened an emergency meeting of its disaster cell and asked its members to prepare a plan to tackle any eventuality.

Principal Indira Bordoloi said they were taking special initiatives and precautionary measures to prevent a repeat of yesterday?s incident in their college. The concern was understandable because most of the old colleges like Cotton, Handique, Pragjyotish and Arya Vidyapeeth have wooden structures.

?It was an eye-opener for all of us since most of the old structures, particularly those made of wood, are at risk. We had reworked the electric connection last year. We have also asked the night guards to keep a strict vigil. The members of the cell have been asked to train the students as well as guards on how to tackle disasters,? Bordoloi said.

The cell also discussed options of buying fire-extinguishers.

?A couple of marketing executives from a fire-extinguishing company approached us this morning. The members of the cell had a discussion with them and checked the extinguishers. We might buy a few of them as per requirement. We even have plans to purchase some fireproof almirahs for the office to protect official documents,? she said.

All official documents of B. Borooah College, including answerscripts, were lost in the fire.

Pragjyotish College vice-principal Dipak Dhar Bora said as preventive measures they would carry out a check on the existing fire-extinguishers. He said the college might buy some new fire-extinguishers as well.

?Because of fire threat we have shifted the office and the examination branch to the new building. The old structures are at present used as classrooms,? Bora said.

Authorities in Cotton College said they had asked the public works department (PWD) to provide some preventive measures by renovating the electrification of the old structure. The philosophy and the chemistry departments are located there. The Cotton College Coffee House is also a part of the old building which was earlier used as the library. These structures are 104 years old.

?It is a government college, it is being maintained by the PWD and some renovation has already been done. We have an active disaster management cell,? Cotton College principal Udayaditya Bharali said.