SANGUEM: The absence of a fire station at Sanguem town which the capital of the biggest taluka in Goa, and attracts a lot of people from other villages, is a major cause of concern to the people.
Given the fact that most government offices are in Sanguem town, a lot of people from the hinterland come to this taluka capital for their work and hence it is quite a bustling town.
Sanguem Councillor Meshu D’Costa pointed out that in the absence of fire services in the taluka, they have to depend on Curchorem fire station for emergency services and lamented that pleas to set up a fire station in Sanguem have fallen on deaf years, for the last many years.
While Sanguem does not have high rise buildings, the dilapidated town hall and old municipal building that has some commercial outlets, are cause of concern as they were built during the erstwhile Portuguese regime and the ravages of time are visible on them.
Incidentally, both these buildings were supposed to be razed around eight years ago, but are still standing as some shop owners refuse to vacate the premises occupied by them.
Ironically, even though the town hall building has been declared unsafe, fish and meat traders along with some shop owners continue to carry on their business there.
Incidentally, it is only one shop owner whose obstinate stand that has thwarted the council’s attempts to raze the building time and again, disclosed one municipal official.
Similarly, demolishing the old municipal building is held up as some shopkeepers have placed unacceptable demands to the council, to vacate the premises.
The first phase of the new Municipal Building was constructed long back when Joaquim Alemao was the Urban Development Minister and the second phase which was supposed to commence after the shopkeepers vacated their premises, has not yet happened.
People fear that these two buildings may collapse at any moment and while the shopkeepers are willing to endanger their lives, it is surprising that the municipality is a silent spectator and this could endanger not only the lives of the shop owners but also customers visiting these shops.
“It looks like the municipality will act only when tragedy strikes,” said one resident of Sanguem.
