MARGAO
Is there any likelihood of the heritage Margao Municipal Council building getting a fresh coat of paint this festival season?
This question did the rounds in the corridors of the civic council after a group of civic workers was found silently cleaning the walls of the front portion of the building on Monday. Inquiries have only revealed that the work of cleaning the building walls have started upon the instructions of Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes.
The Chief Officer was quick to admit that the cleaning of walls is being taken up departmentally before the building gets a fresh coat of paint, but the job isn’t going to be easy for the civic workers as heritage building is craving for attention from the civic babus.
How the Chief Officer or the Administrator will go about the work of restoring the heritage building to its pristine glory remains unknown. Will the Chief Officer or the Administrator manage to get government funds or use the municipal funds to give a facelift to the building?
A look at the imposing municipal building reveals that all appears not well with the heritage structure. It looks shabby on the rear side, with pipes hanging down, and the paint wearing off at several places. The portion of the building, especially where the Chief Officer’s cabin is located, also wears a shabby look.
Plastic sheets were found hanging on the windows, which were apparently put up during the monsoons to stop the rainwater from entering inside. That the sheets were hurriedly removed around Monday is another thing, but a lone plastic sheet on one of the windows indicates that all is not well with the building.
That’s not all. One would come across damaged or broken glass panes of almost all the windows of the imposing structure. It isn’t clear why the outgoing elected council did not deem proper to replace the broken and damaged window panes. But, the incumbent Chief Officer and the newly-appointed Administrator, Prasanna Acharya have their task clear to give a fresh look to the heritage building.
It’s not out of place to mention here that hundreds, if not thousands of visitors, both foreign and domestic, pay a visit to the Margao municipal heritage building during their visit to the state annually.
A major landmark of the commercial capital, however, lies in a state of neglect, with the outgoing council only saying that the plan to restore the heritage building to its past glory did not receive the government’s backing in terms of funding.
