SHWETA KAMAT
PANJIM: The caving in of the roof and eastern wall of the century-old Clube Nacional has heightened apprehensions about other precarious buildings in the city which despite being in dilapidated condition, are not listed as unsafe structures by authorities.
Clube National, is a perfect example of this. The oldest social club in Goa was being used till a portion suddenly collapsed. The wall of the club fell, gave way on September 14 after noon, damaging two shops located below it. Fortunately no one was hurt, since the incident happened on a Sunday.
It’s not just this one structure, but there are several other structures such as the old High Court building that houses Department of Excise, building housing Captain of Ports, Junta House which is home to several government departments, that have already been identified by Fire and Emergency services as not equipped with fire safety measures, that need to be looked at carefully.
The Corporation of the City of Panaji has raised concern about these structures. “Unless we take some action against those structures which have been declared unsafe, we cannot go ahead with other buildings,” Mayor Surendra Furtado said adding, “people will start feeling insecure, if we keep on declaring the structures unsafe and not act.”
