MARGAO
A portion of cement concrete plaster of an old building came crashing down on Friday afternoon, leaving a woman injured and damaging a four-wheeler parked below the building near the Pimpalkatta area of the commercial capital.
The Margao Municipal Council was quick to issue a notice to the owner of the building to vacate the shops/flats with immediate effect. The council also served a seven-day deadline on the owner to submit a structure stability certificate of the building or face action.
Fortunately, there were no fruit and vegetable vendors, who mostly sit on the footpath below the building almost every morning to sell their goods.
The incident happened at around 1.20 pm when there was not much movement on the road when the concrete came crashing down. That the car top suffered a dent and damage to the windscreen indicated the force with which the debris came crashing down.
Margao Municipal Chief Officer Manuel Barreto along with officials and ward councillor Ronita Ajgaonkar visited the site immediately after the incident. Expressing her concern over the incident, the ward councillor demanded that the council seek the structural stability certificates of the old building around the place, more so in the backdrop of a portion crumbling down the last monsoon.
Chief Officer issued a notice under section 190 of the Goa Municipalities Act, 1968 to the owner, pointing out that a part of the concrete chajja of the 2nd floor of the old building has collapsed.
“The officials of this council visited the place soon after the collapse of the cement concrete chajja of the building and noticed that the existing passage of chajja and other parts of the building has developed cracks due to which there is every possibility of a collapse of the remaining part of the building thereby causing danger to pedestrians and vehicles moving on the road located by the side of the building and also to the occupants of the building who are running their business from the premises,” the notice stated.
The chief officer directed the owner to vacate the shops/flats located in the said building with immediate effect and to submit the structural stability certificate of the said building within seven days from the date of the receipt of the notice, failing which the council has warned of action as per section 190 of the Goa Municipalities Act 1968.
Will collapse of concrete come as wake-up call?
THE GOAN NETWORK
MARGAO
Will the collapse of a portion of cement plaster of an old building come as a wake-up call for the Margao City Fathers and Babus with the commercial capital dotting with old and dilapidated buildings?
This question did the rounds in the city after the portion of the cement plaster came crashing down on a four-wheeler parked below the building in the busy market area around the Pimpalkatta-Gandhi market-New market area.
For, sources pointed out that the old building in question is not part of the list of old and dilapidated buildings compiled by the civic body around a decade ago, throwing up questions that there may be many such buildings across the city that pose danger to human lives.
While the incident took place on Friday noon, a Margao municipal worker was spotted pasting a notice on the building late evening, warning the owner to obtain a structural stability certificate or face action.
Citizens, however, demanded to know whether the civic body will wake up only when an incident strikes the city. For, the list of dilapidated buildings dotting across the city has not been updated in recent times.
Take for instance the building collapse at the entrance to the Gandhi market last year. The building did not figure in the list of dilapidated buildings, indicating that apart from the buildings identified by the civic body as unsafe, there may be many other buildings that endanger human lives.
Former Margao Municipal Chairperson Savio Coutinho has lamented that the civic body has no policy on how to grapple with the old building.
“The MMC has compiled a list of old and dangerous buildings, but the list has not been updated every year. It appears the civic body is not keen in identifying the old and dilapidated buildings but is found proactive only when the buildings in question are sought to be redeveloped for real estate,” Coutinho pointed out.
