Vasco witnessed a wake-up call on Friday morning when two balconies of the dilapidated Happy Apartment collapsed onto the road of a residential colony. Luckily, no casualties were reported, as traffic was minimal during the Ganesh Chaturthi holiday. A two-wheeler parked in the basement was partially damaged.
The incident comes barely three months after a portion of the slab from the old Bank of Baroda building near Gandhi Market in Margao caved in on May 23, damaging three cars. The back-to-back collapses have heightened fears that Goa is sitting on a ticking time bomb of unsafe buildings, many of which remain occupied despite their crumbling condition.
The four-storey Happy Apartment, long identified as unsafe, gave way after days of heavy rainfall. Vasco MLA Krishna ‘Daji’ Salkar, accompanied by councillor Shami Salkar, rushed to the site and alerted the Mormugao Mamlatdar, Vasco fire brigade, and traffic police, who quickly secured the area.
Salkar minced no words as he demanded accountability from building owners. “It is high time that owners of these dilapidated buildings are held responsible and liability should be fixed. Some of these buildings are occupied by people while others belong to owners who have abandoned them, posing dangers to everyone around,” he said.
He also cited a long-abandoned structure next to the Vasco police station, warning it could collapse at any moment and cause a “major tragedy” given the hundreds of people who pass through the area daily. Despite raising the issue several times in the Goa Assembly, he said little action had been taken.
Urging Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to act immediately, Salkar called for a strict policy that allows the government to demolish unsafe structures at its own cost, seal the premises, and recover expenses with penalties from the owners. “This incident is an eye-opener and fortunately no casualties occurred since it was Ganesh Chaturthi festival and no one was around,” he said.
The Vasco MLA further said he had briefed the South Goa Collector about the collapse. Highlighting the government’s new Floor Area Ratio (FAR) scheme offering 300 FAR, Salkar, who also chairs the SGPDA, urged residents and societies of old buildings to rebuild using the scheme, prioritising safety over financial considerations.
With two major building collapses in South Goa in just three months, concerns are mounting that Goa’s fragile urban structures may be courting disaster unless urgent preventive measures are taken.