The collapse of a portion of a dilapidated building at Mapusa and its subsequent demolition by the municipality is a wake-up call to the authorities of the dangers of the unsafe buildings that every urban area of Goa is dotted with. Local governing bodies have a list of such buildings and periodically issue notices to the owners, and even paste notices on such buildings stating that they are unsafe structures and that precautions may be taken. That, however, is where the intervention of the local authorities ends. There is no taking it further than that, so the owners of the buildings also do not pay heed to the notices they receive.
The building in Mapusa that collapsed was on the list of the municipal council as unsafe and notices had been sent to the owners. Had some action been taken based on the notice the collapse may have been avoided. While, the building that once housed the office of the Civil Registrar collapsed due to the incessant rain, it was providential that there were no casualties, it occuring late in the night. It has now nudged the Mapusa Municipal Council to be alive to the dangers of the unsafe buildings. As admitted by the MMC chairperson, they will now be more vigilant and look into other structures.
The town has identified 13 such buildings, of which 11 are privately owned. The MMC chairperson has stated that the owners and tenants will be asked to vacate them or repair them, failing which the council will demolish them and the cost will have to be incured by the owners. That, however, is easier said than done. The municipal authorities are within their right to issue notices to owners and tenants to vacate or demolish structures identified as unsafe in their jurisdiction. Notices have been sent to such structures in the past, and not just in Mapusa, but in other municipal areas too. But that has elicited no response from the owners, some of who are also constrained by the tenants who refuse to move from the structures. In such a situation, any attempt by the municipal authorities to demolish would lead to litigation seeking stay orders on the demolition process.
There has to be another way in which to deal with unsafe buildings in the State, whereby owners are held accountable to any disaster that may occur despite notices being sent to them to take adequate precautions. In this case the Mapusa Municipal Council is planning to recover the cost of the demolition from the owners. That is a process, which will not end quickly. An option is for the authorities to pre-empt the possibility of any litigation by producing the facts of the dangerous buildings to the court and getting a court order to demolish. This would ensure that some action is taken before a building collapses.
While the collapse in Mapusa has highlighted the dangers associated with unsafe buildings, a greater problem is the fact that many of these structures, which have been declared as dangerous, are still occupied and it is usually by tenants who are unwilling to give up their rights in the building. An incident similar to one at Mapusa could prove disastrous to lives. It remains the duty of the local authority to ensure the safety of the people. On Friday there was another collapse in Panjim of a much smaller structure, one that crumbled down onto the road. These then are not stray cases, and the danger of more such collapses exists. It is the responsibility of the local authorities to ensure that such dangerous structures are not allowed to turn into a liability endangering the life and property.
