TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The government has notified the constitution of retired Secretary V K Jha commission to inquire into the Canacona building collapse and recommend measures to ensure such incidents do not happen again. The Committee has to submit its preliminary report within 30 days and final report within three months from its constitution.
Besdies V K Jha, IAS (retd) Manohar Gadgil, Consultant & Ex-Head of Veermata Jijabai Technical Institute, Mumbai Dr Krishna S G Gupta, Head of Department, Civil Engineering, Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi, Ponda will be members and Venancio Furtado, Officiating Collector will be member secretary.
The terms of reference for the Commission are to determine the immediate and proximate causes for the collapse of the building; to determine the circumstances and sequences of events leading to the collapse of the building; to fix responsibility, both individual and institutional, for the collapse of this building and for buildings already built that are unsafe structurally;
To determine the administrative, procedural and statutory lapses of various departments and agencies to evaluate structural safety aspects of buildings already built or proposed to be built in the State and to recommend remedial measures and to recommend measures that will help Government to formulate guidelines for future.
‘Ruby Residency’, situated at Chavdi, Canacona, collapsed on January 4, at about 14.30 hrs claimed over 30 lives and rendered many injured.
On preliminary technical inquiry into the matter by the expert team from Goa Engineering College headed by Prof Krishna S G Gupta, Head of Department (Civil) and the Engineers of Public Works Department of Goa Government, it was revealed that building collapsed due to weak construction among other causes.
They government also admitted that prima facie “certain lapses have been committed by the administration at the municipality and taluka level TCP department.”
