MARGAO: Despite notices, the owners of nearly 19 buildings in the town, which have been declared unsafe by the Margao Municipal Council (MMC), are yet to vacate them.
However, it is shocking that only one or two owners of these buildings have replied to the notices issued to them, and it appears that the remaining are least concerned about the hundreds of occupants residing in these buildings.
It is pertinent to note that the Margao Municipality had carried out the correspondence in 2018. "Not a single owner of the unsafe buildings has intimated the MMC on vacating the premises, expect for two or three", said Municipal Engineer Rajesh Desai.
Sources informed that the owners of these unsafe buildings are not yet ready to accept that their premises are unsafe, which has put the MMC in fix to initiate action.
The issue of these unsafe buildings has been intimated to the South Goa Collector’s office, PWD and Goa Engineering College at Farmagudi.
It may be recalled that as per the structural stability report, nearly 19 buildings had been identified as dangerous and unsafe. Hence, MMC had issued notices to all owners of these buildings on August 9, 2016. However, the owner of Sabina Hotel, which was identified as one of the unsafe buildings, had replied saying, he possesses a certificate issued by Engineer Prakash Samant certifying that the building is stable.
The list of the unsafe buildings identified by the MMC includes T B Cunha School building, Popular Primary School, old municipal building, Cruz Mansion, Sukdo building, Golden Photo Studio building, Sanskar Co-Operative Housing, Galaxy Apartment, Gracias Furtado building, Predio Cardozo building, Villa Coutinho building, residential house of Eugina Colaco, House of Pedro Avelino Luis, New Era school building, Lotlikar building, Parishram Raikar, Ladu Raikar building, Tilve building, Churi building, Marchon building, Sabina Hotel, building situated in between Raymond showroom and Kharpe House at Isidore Emidio Baptista Road.
A residential complex Galaxy Apartment near Vishant theatre has been identified as unsafe while other residential houses are Villa Coutinho at Khareband, Eugenia Colaco, houses opposite Holy Spirit Church, Pedro Avelino Luis’ house behind New Era School and Parishram and Ladu Raikar’s house at Chinchal.
MMC Engineer Rajesh Desai said besides notices all the owners have been issued show cause notices. However, only two-three owners have replied to the notices.
"The MMC in a letter to the PWD had requested that these buildings be inspected once again. But PWD replied saying that it did not have the equipment to do the structural audit", said Dessai.
He informed that the MMC had even requested the Goa Engineering College at Farmagudi and the issue has been brought to the notice of the District Collector’s office.
"Most buildings are private and are very old. MMC did not have blueprint of these buildings and the owners should come forward and spend the money on inspection. But till date, nobody has replied to the MMC", said Desai.
The MMC had issued notices to all the owners of these buildings to vacate these premises as they are unsafe. It has been informed that following the MMC notice, T B Cunha School building was repaired. Besides Popular Primary School and New Era School buildings too have been repaired but have not been vacated as yet.
However, in June 2021, Agnelo Fernandes, MMC Chief Officer had passed an order against the Sanskar Co-operative Housing Society to vacate the premises within 30 days. However, the housing society failed to meet the July 16 deadline.
Fernandes said nobody bothered to reply to the notices. "Actually the owners should have replied to the notices or should have vacated the premises to ensure that safety of the occupants."
He said the MMC will now request the District Collector’s office to initiate further action.