MARGAO: At an event attended by a large number of senior citizens in Margao on Wednesday, the brazen lack of upkeep of the Municipal Hall was in full public view. With the rickety steps leading to the stage/platform broken in places, elderly guests and organisers struggled to climb onto and alight from the stage.
Guests at the event organised by the All-Goa Senior Citizens Federation expressed dismay at the negligence of the ‘A’ Class Margao Municipal Council, and its inability to maintain its own resources- especially since the damaged stairs were brought to the civic body’s notice several days ago.
According to members of the forum, the steps have been broken for around a week now, and two days ago, two senior citizens had fallen to the ground when they were trying to scale the broken steps to the platform during a similar function held in the Municipal Hall.
Speaking to OHeraldo, Anil Pai, a senior citizen and member of the All Goa Senior Citizens Federation expressed anger and slammed the civic body’s negligence that resulted in two elderly people having a fall due to the broken stairs.
“This is total negligence on the part of the civic body. We had brought this issue to the notice of the civic body in the past, but they failed to repair it, and as a result, senior citizens faced hardships again on Wednesday,” stated Pai.
Councillor Mahesh Amonkar also expressed his frustration and pointed out that it was not only the stairs, but even the shabby carpet laid on the floor of the hall was torn in many places, but nobody was showing interest to repair the damage, or replace it.
However, when OHeraldo brought this issue to his notice on Wednesday, Additional Collector
Srinet Kothvale, who holds additional charge as the Chief Officer of the civic body, instructed the
concerned officer to issue the orders to repair the stairs of the platform
immediately.
