Historic structures covered in plastic at risk of further decay in monsoon as renovation plans lie in limbo
A plastic sheet covers the façade of the Margao Urban Health Centre building as the city is lashed by pre-monsoon rains.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
As dark clouds hover over the sky ahead of the ensuing monsoons likely to hit the State in the first week of June, the heritage and landmark buildings dotting across the commercial capital seem to have missed the date for their repairs and renovation yet again.
Barring the Margao Urban Health Centre building, which is undergoing repairs following the collapse of the façade of the heritage building during the last monsoons, neither repairs nor renovation has begun at the over-century-old Margao Municipal Council building and the over 60-year-old Administrator of Communidades building.
In fact, there’s no change in the ground reality at the Margao Municipal building, which was secured with plastic sheets last year to prevent water seepage into the heritage structure. That the plastic sheets are still hanging on the building windows, bears testimony to the fact that the building was secured with plastic covers during the last monsoons. A report.
Margao Urban Health Centre building
The façade of the Portuguese-era heritage structure housing the Margao Urban Health Centre building came crashing down in the wee hours of July 8 last year, bringing to the fore the stability concerns of the old and heritage government buildings dotting the commercial capital.
Ruling and opposition politicians made a beeline to the site to take stock of the situation, giving a ray of hope for early restoration of the heritage building.
It’s now already 10 months since the portion of the building had come crashing down, but the repair work still remains incomplete. A visit to the building revealed that the front portion, where work has been undertaken by the PWD, is covered with a plastic sheet after the city was lashed by the pre-monsoon showers.
Inquiries revealed that other than the masonry work, work on a concrete beam, besides internal items remains incomplete. While PWD officials have been quick to float a tender to take up the restoration work, the lone bid received for the work caused the inordinate delay as the file lay pending before the government panel without a decision for a considerable time.
The intervening Lok Sabha elections, wherein the PWD officials were preoccupied with the repairs and upgradation of the polling stations across South Goa, is believed to have slowed the pace of the work. PWD officials, however, exuded confidence in completing the exterior works before the end of May.
Administrator of Comunidades building
This major landmark located right in the heart of the commercial capital, has been craving attention for over half a decade now. Hopes that the government would take up the repairs and renovation work at an estimated cost of over Rs two crore seem to have fizzled out. The exit of ex-PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral likely dealt a further blow to the hopes of restoration of the imposing building.
Inquiries revealed that while the PWD, Buildings had floated a tender to take up the repairs and restoration work of the Administrator of Comunidades building last year, actual work on the restoration project could not take off since only one bidder applied for the project.
The fate of the proposal sent to the government-led panel to take a call on the single tender remains unknown, even as an official pointed out the tender is now down and out.
That the Comunidades building has literally become an eyesore seemed to have not spurred the authorities to see reason and restore the structure for posterity.
Sadly, while a structural stability report compiled by the Goa College of Engineering around half a decade ago certified that the building is safe and can be strengthened with repairs, the restoration work has yet to take off to date.
Margao Municipal Council building
The over-century-old Portuguese-era Margao Municipal Council building has been craving attention for close to a decade now. Leave alone the paint that has faded off, giving a shabby look to the building, the heritage structure itself is craving for structural works with water seepage into the building the order of the day during the monsoons.
It was hoped that after a concrete portion of the ceiling of a passage came crashing down during the last monsoon, the government would take up the repair work on a war footing. Margao MLA Digambar Kamat as well as the Margao civic chief Damu Shirodkar have time and again insisted that the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) will take up the MMC building restoration work.
Sadly, however, the ground reality has remained unchanged. If sources are to be believed, GSUDA has asked the Margao Municipal Council to place funds running into crores of rupees at its disposal before taking up the work.
