Pratik Parab
pratik@herald-goa.com
The Margao Municipal Council on Monday has been urged to protect and get the old dilapidated Camara of Municipality to life and conserve it for future generations. Historian Prajal Sakhardande and former Chairperson of MMC Savio Coutinho inspected the building of the Old Camara in Old Market Margao and also met the Chief Officer and registered their protest against demolishing the building.
The MMC has made a survey and identified 17 buildings or structures in Margao which are in a bad state and need quick action and informed the Chairperson and the South Goa District Disaster Management Authority.
The focus amongst these 17 buildings is naturally the Old Margao Municipality building, after a team of five, including Savio Coutinho and Prajal Sakhardande met the Chief Officer on the background of the report and study of the MMC showing that the Camara along with 16 other structures of Margao are unsafe and dangerous structures now.
Since the early 17th century, the Camara has been a witness of the ups and downs and the progress of the Margao town. The entire administrative system of Goa and especially South Goa were controlled through this building and is considered as a time capsule.
“We were worried and concerned that the Camara is being slated for demolition and we object and protest this as the building is as old as 1778 and also because of its own historic incidents. One of the examples is on September 21,1890 23 Goans, who protested against the rigging of elections in favour of a Portuguese candidate, were shot dead,” said Prajal Sakhardande.
“The Camara was functional till 1905 and later was shifted to where it is now. The building has lot of history and has to be conserved. It can be done with all the technology of 21st Century and it is a beautiful building with beautiful architectural style. It has a beautiful facade and it has to be conserved”, said Sakhardande.
Savio Coutinho, while speaking about the Camara, said: “In 2010 when I was a chairperson Prajal wrote to me highlighting the history of the Camara and I was impressed with the study and called him over to have a word. We decided to conserve this building and in the same year took a resolution to conserve the building by restoring it”.
Coutinho added that the conservation process has been very slow and we have been continuously following up the case. There is a need for the MMC and Government to take care of the structure and start conservation of the structure as rain is wreaking havoc on the building.
Herald has in the past highlighted the plight of Margao’s dilapidated structures. One of the most dangerous is the New Era School building which has now been listed as a dangerous building in the town. The New Era School has been the worst amongst all the schools in Margao. The school is in the AJ Almeida building for more than 70 years. More than 300 students sit for tuition in rooms where the roof leaks and large chunks of cement keep falling during school.
The condition of the schools in the past has gone from bad to worse in the past four years. The school has been asking for a land and building for over five years now and after the MMC has now declared it dangerous it will be interesting to see where the school is shifted.
The school has made an application for land in Housing Board but the land is blocked in litigation. They applied for yet another land in Aquem but the work is stopped due to lack of funds. The school management has been paying Rs3400 rent for the premises which can be called life threatening.
