CCP identifies 12 unsafe buildings in Panjim

PANJIM: The Corporation of the City of Panaji has identified 12 buildings in the capital city which are in a dilapidated and dangerous condition in the city and has written to Goa Engineering College (GEC), Farmagudi, to carry out Structural Stability Study of the same. . The move has been taken by the CCP in the backdrop of the partial collapse of an unoccupied building due to heavy rains at St Inez on August 17.

In a letter written to the GEC, the CCP has said,” The Corporation has identified 12 structures which appear to be in a dilapidated and dangerous condition. The Corporation desires to know the structural stability of the buildings and you are requested to depute your representative to carry out necessary inspections and submit stability reports at the earliest,” the CCP has said.

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Out of the 12 buildings identified by the CCP, three buildings are in Ribandar, one each in Altinho and St Inez and seven in Panjim. Out of them, one building is owned by the government while the rest are in private properties. The move has been taken by the CCP in the backdrop of the partial collapse of an unoccupied building due to heavy rains at St Inez on August 17. After the incident, the site was also visited by the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) Mayor Rohit Monserrate and North Goa District Collector Sneha Gitte, IAS.

After inspecting the site, Rohit Monserrate had said that a stability report of other buildings will be sought and if required they too will be demolished after getting orders from the District Collector. He had said that the CCP will either write to the GEC or Government Polytechnic, Altinho, asking them to carry out the structural audit of the buildings.

Panjim MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate had said,” We are identifying old buildings which may collapse. The CCP will write to North Goa Collector to declare the identified buildings unsafe. We need experts who may be either from Government Polytechnic or Goa Engineering College to carry out structural audits of the buildings. We will use the services of the experts the way it was done in case of old and dangerous trees.”

CCP to auction metal scrap of dismantled Miramar footbridge

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PANJIM: The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) will auction the scrap of Miramar footbridge which was dismantled recently.

Speaking to O Heraldo, a CCP official said, “The metal scrap will be auctioned. Though time line has not been decided but once the dismantling work gets over, an e-tender will be issued and the scrap will be auctioned. At least it will recover the money spent on the dismantling work.”

The corroded foot over bridge which was in precarious condition finally dismantled on August 4. The work to dismantle the metal structure had commenced on August 3, Saturday, closing the traffic on the busy Miramar to Dona Paula road for two days to facilitate the dismantling of the footbridge.

There was a demand from the public to remove this 12-year-old bridge which was never used. The bridge had turned into a major danger to public safety as it was corroded on all sides. Even, Congress had written to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant requesting him to dismantle and dispose of the foot over bridge without wasting time by invoking the urgency clause thereby giving relief to students, parents and the general public.

On May 28, the CCP had shut the access to the bridge which was built on a public private partnership (PPP) model. On a request of the CCP, GEC had carried out a safety audit of the bridge and recommended the CCP to dismantle and dispose of it.