VASCO: GOACAN as part of its ongoing Consumer Rights Awareness month with the focus on Right to Safety has written to Mamlatdar Mormugao Taluka, Satish Prabhu expressing concerns about consumer’s safety in light of the fatal accident, which occurred recently after a tree fell on a Vasco road.
The NGO in its letter addressed to the mamlatdar has called for his immediate intervention so that disasters like tree falls are prevented and loss of life and damage to property is avoided. NGO has demanded a meeting to be urgently convened of all concern governing bodies such as Mormugao Municipal Council, Forest department, Traffic Police, Electricity department, Police, PWD and Fire & Emergency Services to prepare a road map to tackle the emerging situation of tree falls more so as the monsoons have just begun.
Another demand is that the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC), forest department to prepare & submit a list of all trees along Swatantra Path and other roads in Vasco giving details like its location, type of tree and approximate life span, last date of pruning along with photograph of the tree and its base.
Similarly, the Electricity Department has been asked to prepare and submit a list of electric poles and transformers that are near the trees along Swatantra Path and other roads in Vasco giving details like location, serial no, whether guard wires and stay wires are in place along with photographs and how shut down will be implemented in that area in case of an emergency.
The Dept of Fire & Emergency Services has also been requested to prepare and submit a contingency plan in case of tree falls in the near future along with an advisory for the various line departments, MMC and commercial establishments.
The Traffic Police has been requested to prepare and submit a contingency plan in case of tree falls in the near future along with an advisory for pedestrians, two wheeler riders & four wheeler drivers. They have demanded that once a tree is declared unsafe the same should be cordoned off with a caution notice to those who regularly park their vehicles under/near the tree.
Lastly Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Vasco has been urged to submit the list of fatalities occurred due to tree falls at different locations in Mormugao taluka in the last 5 years along with the name of the victim, type of tree, location specifying the village panchayat /municipal council jurisdiction and if any FIR was registered due to criminal negligence.
