Team Herald
MARGAO: Margao was thrown in a tizzy late evening as an old compound wall caved in on a construction site behind Grace Church amidst rumours that one worker was injured and occupants of the neighbouring Dattagiri Building restrained from parking their vehicles in the complex.
Apparently as the labourers were working late evening with floodlights binding rods with wires for the basement floor, there was a landslide with the old compound wall caving along with some mud of the excavated site. The landslide occurred about 8 metres below the ground level which was dug up for laying the foundation.
According to eyewitnesses, the labourers immediately ran away from the site after switching off the floodlights. The contractor reportedly took one injured labourer to a private hospital for treatment. However, Sidharth Rivonkar of Lotus Builders said that nobody was injured.
Apparently the police were informed about the incident at 8.45 pm and Police Inspector Harish Madkaikar with his team rushed to the site. As the road leading to the adjacent Dattagiri building had developed a crack, police asked the occupants of the building to take their vehicles outside the compound.
Police immediately blocked all access to Dattagiri building by setting up a gate and were in the process of laying barricades separating the area where the road has developed a crack.
Fire Officer Gill Souza said a retaining wall will have to be erected to protect the road and ensure that there is no damage to the neighbouring building. However, he said the work would start only tomorrow and pointed out that the builder had assured that nobody was trapped in the debris.
Sidharth Rivonkar said the labourers were working in the night because they wanted to complete all work including construction of the retaining wall before the onset of monsoons.
