MARGAO
Are the congested Municipal markets in the Commercial capital fire proof and equipped to handle fire incidents? Has the much-talked about overhead water tank proposed over half-a-decade ago taken shape in the market area? What about the defunct fire hydrants? Have they being revived in the new market to meet the requirements? Have the licensing authority, the Margao Municipality mandated the hundreds of shops and business establishments in the Municipal markets, install fire extinguishers?
Well, these and other questions have come to the fore, as it’s exactly two months since the December 26, 2023 fire inferno had gutted shops in the New market, exposing the inadequate fire fighting measures, sounding a wake up call to the authorities to tone up the infrastructure.
Hopes were raised that the fire fighting measures will fall in place with the fire incident coming under close scanner of the district Disaster Management Cell headed by Additional Collector Dipak Desai, who had initiated meetings, besides a joint market inspection. It is learnt that agencies, including the Fire Services and the PWD, Water supply have come up with recommendations to tide over the shortcomings in the fire fighting measures.
Questions, however, are being asked in the narrow and congested passages of the Municipal markets -- when will the fire fighting measures recommended by the agencies finally fall in place and make the Municipal markets fire proof?
After the initial enthusiasm displayed by the authorities, the issue seemed to have been relegated to the background. Otherwise, consider this. As many as two meetings convened by the disaster management cell to take a review had to be postponed for reasons best known to the authorities. With the government effecting election-related transfers, Additional Collector Dipak Desai is now transferred and posted to North Goa and no meeting has taken place after his transfer.
Both the Fire services and the PWD, water supply has recommended a host of measures to tone up the fire fighting requirements in the market area. A report.
PWD, Water supply department: After the Dipak Desai-joint inspection with officials of other agencies, the PWD, water supply has mooted two proposals to tide over the water pressure issue plaguing the fire hydrants in the Margao markets.
A senior PWD official told The Goan that the department has proposed to extend an existing underground water pipeline at the Pick Up stand to the market area, to boost up pressure and to make available water 24x7.
The second proposal is the half-a-decade old recommendation to install an overhead water tank. The joint inspection had identified the Pick-up stand as the ideal site for the proposed overhead tank. The proposal, however, is at a preliminary stage and will take months before the proposal goes to the government for sanction.
Electricity department: Post-fire incident, the Power department seemed to have almost completed the audit of the shops and establishments operating in the Municipal markets, the New market and the Gandhi market. Hundreds of notices have gone to the shop owners for increasing the load without the sanction of the power department. The shop owners have been told to regularize the load increase with a penalty.
The audit has revealed that majority of the shops and establishments were found to have increase the load sans sanction from the department.
A senior power officials pointed out that a good news of shops owners in the two markets have applied for regularization of the power load with a penalty. Some of the establishments have applied for three-phase connection from single phase. “The process is underway. After completing the new market, power department teams are now on the job in the Gandhi market”, he said.
