BICHOLIM: In a major incident, a portion of the famous Sanquelim Fort collapsed on a shop, on Tuesday, injuring a 42-year-old man, while 27 shops surrounding the area fear similar fate.
The incident occurred in the morning at around 10 am. Due to heavy rains, a portion of the fort came down on a shop belonging to one Ashok Matonkar.
The sludge and laterite stones that collapsed on the shop, almost buried Ashok and he suffered serious injuries. Three other persons who were with Ashok in the shop ran out to safety.
“Ashok was almost buried and I had to pull him out of the mud and laterite stones,” the victim’s brother, Dhananjay, who was also in the shop, said.
As the news of the collapse spread, Sanquelim MLA Dr Pramod Sawant, Joint Mamlatdar Shirpad Majik visited the site.
The Sanquelim Municipal Council Chairman Dharmesh Saglani, who visited the site, has requested the Archaeology department for inspection and immediate relief.
The Director of Department of Archaeology, Blossom Medeira, who visited the site, assured all possible help to the people. “We would ask our architect to do a survey and if possible place a net over the entire area so that no untoward incident occurs,” Blossom said adding, “We would also suggest some repairs so that no such incidents occur in the future.”
Saglani demanded that the fort be de-notified. “The fort should either be maintained by the department or de-notified, so that the land could be used for some other purpose,” Saglani said.
Saglani also feared for the safety of the students of a school just next to the fort, as this was the second such incident in as many years.
“It is learnt that the Archaeology department cannot take up repairs of such monuments due to financial crunch, as such we are ready to shift all the shops (which are close to the fort) to the new market if the mamlatdar ordered so,” Saglani said.
Historians say the fort was build by Bhosle of Sawantwadi. The structure which is located at the centre of the busy Sanquelim market was later conquered by the Portuguese General Marquis de Alorna, in 1746. It was regarded as an important defence post guarding the passage from the ghats to the coastal territories with cannons positioned in the fort. Until 1817, the fort possessed a set of eight cannons. The fort apparently was abandoned towards the end of the 19th century and fell to a ruinous state.
The structure shows a very strong character of fort architecture built of large blocks of the locally available laterite stones. The fort presently houses the offices of the PWD.
