SANGUEM: The town hall at Sanguem is a disaster waiting to happen. Built way back in 1971, the building is now on the verge of collapse, with even a section of its cement plaster giving way around three years ago. It was at around the same time that the Sanguem Municipal Council had decided to have the complex demolished. Except that there was one little problem: Some shop allottees simply refused to vacate the unsafe premises.

Municipality sources said a tender was floated in 2020 for demolition of the building and a contractor was even chosen for the job. However, demolition failed to begin as the obstinacy of the shop allottees meant that the council could not hand over a vacant building to the contractor.

While it was earlier used for social gatherings, the town hall also doubled up as an ITI classroom for a while. Presently, the ground floor of the dilapidated building is used by a meat vendor and a couple of general store operators.

When the cement plaster of the building collapsed three years ago, former council chairperson RomualdoFernandes sought permission from the Directorate of Municipal Administration for demolition of the structure, which was granted following a structural report submitted by a team of engineers from the Government Polytechnic at Farmagudi.

The issue of demolition surfaced at a council meeting held just last week, with the councillors unanimously agreeing to take up the process from where it had been left off. Vice-chairperson Queiroz Cruz said the council has given its go-ahead in the matter to the chief officer, and that it was now up to the latter to get the building vacated and the shop allottees moved to an alternative premises.