27 Apr 2017  |   01:22am IST

Govt quarters at Sheller threat to occupants, public

Abel Barretto Canacona

The dilapidated government quarters at Sheller are a threat to the occupants and for the people living in the vicinity.

The government quarters built around 30 years ago and without proper maintenance and lot of undergrowth is a threat to the lives of the 10 families occupying the quarters and equal number of families staying in the vicinity.

Most of the quarters are unoccupied as they are not fit for occupying and are in a very bad shape with water leakages and trees grown on the structures making them weak and they might collapse any time. 

The families, especially, the children staying in rest of the quarters mostly on the ground floor, face a constant danger of deadly poisonous snakes which are a regular sightings in the compound housing this quarters. 

The residents said that two poisonous snakes which had intrude into the residential area, recently, had to be killed as the wildlife snake rescuers could not contacted due to congestion in the telephone lines. 

The old hospital building which could be used for some constructive purpose is also left as it is and also find use in breeding of rats which attract all types snakes in the vicinity, the premises is close to the forests on one side and residents fear that the thick vegetation just meters away from the quarters and the abandoned quarters might be an ideal place for wild animals like Leopards to hide and attack children from the locality, huge logs of trees cut few years back for posing danger in the area are lying as it is as there are no takers for this soft wood, and in case of accidental or incidental fire all the area can go in smoke before it could be controlled.

 Entire area in the compound is a big mess as metal, logs, plastic and garbage bins are scattered all over the place. Two wells built for water needs of the quarters are unusable as there is lot of unwanted material in the wells which is an ideal breeding ground for insects which literally creates a health hazard in the vicinity. When Herald tried to seek more information about this issues from the concerned staff at the Canacona primary health centre, the phone calls remained unanswered so also the staff responsible for the maintainance of the estate where non cooperative. 

When Herald contacted the local MLA Isidore Fernandes he said " I know the condition of both the health scenario and the govt quarters,  with nine structures which are in critical state and might collapse in near future, regarding this shortly I am going to call a meeting of the concerned officials to find a lasting solution on this" said Mr. Fernandes.

IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar