Shifted after fire building declared unsafe
PWD Assistant Engineer N Nagarchie attributes damage to the speed breakers in the vicinity
The building is only 21 years old
Repairs to be effected within two months
VASCO: It was an unusual exercise in evacuation for the Vasco fire and emergency personnel, as they had to shift themselves to an alternate place after the PWD declared the Vasco Fire Services building as unsafe.
Declared unsafe by the PWD division VIII (building maintenance section), the Vasco Fire Services building is in precarious condition as the structure has developed cracks and a portion of the ceiling, concrete beams and columns are giving way.
While some staff workers from the building have been moved to a storeroom, which is converted as a duty office, others have been accommodated in two vacant flats, one on the ground floor and the other on the third floor of the staff quarters.
What has raised eyebrows in the port town is the fact that a building barely 21 years old has been declared unsafe, while many other buildings in Vasco city have remained in good condition after well over 50 years. The Vasco Fire Service building had been inaugurated by then chief minister Ravi Naik on March 17, 1993.
While the entire building has developed cracks, a portion of the ceiling, cross beams and main columns supporting the building have fallen off. In a bid to save the building from collapse, the PWD has placed four irons poles as supports to the weak infrastructure.
Sources at Vasco Fire Service told Herald that a year back, the Vasco Fire service office had brought to the notice of the PWD division VIII about the cracks in the building.
“The PWD engineers conducted an inspection, but failed to understand the urgency to repair the building. Three months ago, the Vasco Fire Service office was again informed about the weak pillars and plaster falling off the beams,” said the source.
“The PWD conducted another inspection of the building and after realising the weakness of the structure, advised staff to move to safer premises,” said the source.
The source stated that executive engineer G S Velingkar of PWD remarked in the diary that the re-enforcement of the two columns had been reduced to one-third, while the cement had become brittle and there were cracks on other columns. As a result, the building was not safe for occupation.
When contacted, Vasco PWD Assistant Engineer N Nagarchie stated the weakened columns would be redesigned by structural engineers from the Principal Chief Engineer’s office.
“The PWD will simultaneously take up strengthening of other beams and plastering of the ceiling,” stated Nagarchie and attributed the cracks to speed breakers near the structure.
“Due to constant vibration and every time a heavy vehicle passes over the speed breaker, it leads to cracks in the building and over a period, moisture enters the cracks and corrodes the steel which weakens the structure. The work will be completed in a month’s time,” he said.
