How many months, if not years, will it take for the Margao Municipal Council and the district administration to put in place a dedicated over head water tank to tackle fires in the city’s congested markets in times of emergencies?
This question once again did the rounds in the Margao Municipal New Market, three days after a raging fire engulfed the Panjim market on Monday, as there’s still no sign of the overhead taking concrete shape till date.
It’s now three months and half since fire broke out in the new market on September 9, destroying property worth lakhs of rupees. A dedicated overhead water tank was mooted by the traders a couple of years ago after the fire hydrants installed around the markets proved to be of no use for want of pressure. That the proposal for the overhead water tank did not evoke serious response from the civic body is evident by the huge delay in putting the tank in place.
Though the proposal to build an overhead tank at the old fish market was mooted around 2-3 years ago, the file only moved at a snail’s pace, first in the corridors of the civic body and later in the PWD.
The need for an overhead water tank took the centre stage three months ago when fire engulfed the New market on September 9. Realisation then dawned amongst the government agencies and traders alike that the municipality had changed its plan to build the tank at the Old fish market as the civic body batted for a multi-storey parking lot at the site.
If many a traders or citizen thought that the September 9, fire incident would spur the City Fathers and Babus to take the overhead water tank proposal to its logical conclusion, they were sadly mistaken. While the fire incident occurred on September 9, it took three long months for the civic body to approval the site at the Gandhi Market to host the proposed overhead water tank. And, inquiries by Herald now revealed that the Margao Municipal resolution is yet to be despatched to the PWD for further action.
Says PWD Assistant Engineer, Vijai Kudchadkar: “My office has till date not received any proposal from the Margao civic body on the overhead tank. We had recently asked the civic body to intimate us on the location of the overhead tank, but in vain”.
In fact, the PWD is waiting for the Margao municipality to issue the NOC in order to process the file for the proposed overhead water tank.
Interestingly, nothing has been heard from the district agencies on the proposal to install fire hydrant in the heart of the commercial capital. In fact, after the September 9 inferno, the agencies had identified as many as eight points install the fire hydrants, but in vain. The authorities were also expected to explore the possibility of laying a dedicated water line from Arlem to the city to maintain water pressure in the fire hydrants, but nothing has moved from the PWD till date.
What the PWD has achieved during the last three months was installing a fire hydrant at the Gomant Vidya Niketan. Plans to charge the fire hydrant at the Margao police station have not fructified for want of road cutting permission from the district authorities.
Says Margao New Market Association president, Vinod Shirodkar: “The fire at the Panjim market is an eye opener for the Margao civic body to act fast and put the overhead water tank in place. Chief Officers have come and gone in Margao, but they have failed to take work on the dedicated overhead water tank to its logical conclusion”.
