PONDA: In a daring act, Sakharam Naik, a resident of Dutle-Marcaim, without worrying about his own safety, turned into a shield to protect his son from getting hurt after a huge mango tree got uprooted and fell on his house and completely damaging it on Friday. In the process, Naik sustained injuries.
Due to incessant heavy rain since Thursday, the tree collapsed on Naik’s house, rendering his family homeless. In an attempt to save his son, the brave father covered him like a shield.
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Marcaim locals and the Sarpanch were saddened over the tragic incident.
With the house, other belongings like TV set and freezer etc were also completely damaged, causing an estimated of loss of around Rs 5 lakh.
The incident took place at around 1 pm when Sakharam, who had just returned home after picking up his son from the school. His wife who was present in house luckily escaped without getting hurt.
Injured Sakharam was shifted to Ponda Sub-district Hospital for treatment. He received injuries on his back. He was discharged later after keeping him under observation for two hours at the hospital.
The Ponda Fire Station personnel rushed to spot and cleared the tree. They said they could not save anything as house was completely damaged.
Sarpanch of Marcaim, Shailendra Panajikar who inspected the site said, “This huge mango tree was more than a century old. Today one family became homeless. Tomorrow it could be more. The administration must cut such old trees to save property and life.”
He also said that government should make financial provision for panchayat to immediately reconstruct the house damaged in natural calamity.
“During rainy season, there is storm, heavy rains and hence panchayats should have money and power to reconstruct houses damaged in cyclones, rain etc immediately. The process of talathi inspecting the damaged property, filing a report and then releasing compensation is very time consuming,” he said.
