PERNEM
Nine fibre boats and seven junk jeeps of the tourism department were gutted in a major fire at the abandoned Goa Darbar resort of the tourism department at Malpem-Virnoda on Saturday morning.
It took fire tenders from Pernem and Mapusa nearly three hours to extinguish the fire.
According to reports, the incident took place at about 11.30 am when one fibre boat caught fire. Virnoda Sarpanch Bharat Gawde alerted the Pernem fire services and a fire tender from Pernem went to the site, but was unable to control the flames. By the time a second fire tender arrived from Mapusa, the fire had spread to other fibre boats and seven condemned jeeps.
The electricity department workers switched off a nearby transformer, as a precautionary measure.
Locals with the help of the fire tender managed to tow a number of other condemned jeeps, thereby saving them from being destroyed in the fire. Sources suspected that someone may have set fire to the trees, which have been cut as part of road-widening works of the NH 17 between Malpem, Dhargal and Colvale, and the fire may have spread to the abandoned Goa Darbar resort.
Commenting on the fire mishap, local Panch Shailendra Parab said the tourism department had shut down the Goa Darbar resort.
“The department had turned this site into a scrapyard for junk vehicles and fibre boats,” said Parab.
The site was in the news recently amid reports that a petrol pump was being planned in the area and people had voiced concern over these reports, suggesting that the land should have been utilised for a Ravindra Bhavan instead.
