the goan I network
MARGAO
Notices with a warning “Building is unsafe. Do not use the staircase or any part of the Building” surfaced on the Hospicio hospital annex building on Wednesday.
The development may once again bring Hospicio authorities face to face with the owner of the dialysis unit, presently operating in the annex building.
Security guards pasted the notices at the entrance to the annex building, which is now only housing the dialysis unit, while Hospicio has shifted all its operations from the annex building to the heritage building after the PWD declared the building unstable and unsafe for occupation two years ago.
When The Goan called up Hospicio Medical Superintendent, Dr Ira Almeida to shed light on the warning notices pasted near the entrance gates to the annex building, she justified her action saying it is being done to caution the people using the building to beware of its safety concerns. “Ever since the building was declared unsafe by the PWD, our hospital operations were all shifted to the Hospicio heritage building. However, the dialysis unit has been functioning from the annex building as the owner has refused to vacate the premise. By putting up the notices, we only want to warn the people that the building they are using is unsafe,” Dr Ira said.
The dialysis unit owner had refused to vacate the premises on the ground that the Supreme Court has stayed any attempt by the government to evict him from the building. The government and the dialysis unit owner had come face to face a year ago after the dialysis unit caught fire, destroying property worth lakhs of rupees.
Taking advantage of the fire incident, the government tried to forcibly evict the owner from carrying out dialysis operations inside the annex building, but the owner knocked the doors of the High Court, which stayed the government from evicting the owner and stopping the dialysis operations.
Meanwhile, after pieces of construction debris have started coming down on the ground, the Hospicio has now cordoned off the annex building with metal sheets. Dr Ira pointed out that work on cordoning off the unsafe annex building was carried out by the PWD at the instance of the Hospicio as a matter of abundant precaution.
