Mapusa power dept building unsafe, lives of staff at risk

AGNELO PEREIRA
MAPUSA
The lives of at least 200 staff employed in the Mapusa electricity department are at risk, as the building housing the department has been declared unsafe even as senior electricity officials refused to come clean on the structural stability of the building.
Severe stress on one of the RCC columns has put pressure on the cantilever beam of top floors of the building housing the electricity department office.
A huge crack on one of the RCC columns and large patches of ceiling concrete falling off clearly indicate signs of an aging building which could come down at any moment as per a report submitted by the professor and head of the department of civil engineering, Goa Engineering College (GEC), Farmagudi.
The GEC report has observed that the building is unsafe and has recommended a series of measures to alleviate further stress on the building.
“A look at the external exposed columns reveals an alarming situation. The column may give way any time leading to an unwanted eventuality which may result in the loss of human life,” said Dr K G Guptha, Professor and Head of Department of Civil Engg, GEC.
In his report, the professor has said that one of the corner columns has split into two and was standing precariously without performing its function as the adjacent wall and column was just supporting it laterally.
“This situation forced the mechanism of transfer of load to the adjacent columns resulting in additional unexpected load on them. Further weakening of the column resulted in widening of cracks, settlement of masonry, slight deflection of beams and connected slab resulted in cracking of floor tiles and cracks in the slab,” the report observed.
The report further said that the loading in the form of live load, arrangement of furniture and cupboards was concentrated on the cantilever part of the slab which further worsened the condition of the column.
A source in the electricity department informed that all reinforcement steel of the building has been corroded.
The source further informed that recently a lady staff had a miraculous escape when a large chunk of concrete from the ceiling came down near her seat.
Acting on the recommendation of the GEC report, the Executive Engineer (civil), D N Naik has directed the electricity department to immediately remove all furniture, machinery and personnel from the right-hand side corner of the building to alleviate additional stress on the column.
“The meter testing bench in the MRT lab is also putting a lot of load over the cantilever beam, which is advised to be removed immediately,” the EE said in his note.
A senior department official disclosed that going by the EE’s direction, most of the staff from the building will have to be accommodated in some other place.
“We have to look for an alternative office space and senior officials will have to take call sooner rather than later,” the official said.
The electricity department’s Assistant Engineer (civil), Vassudev Prabhu informed that the report submitted by GEC was a visual inspection report and the department was awaiting for the findings of the non-destructive test report conducted by the same entity.
On whether the building was safe, he said, “we cannot say.”
Executive Engineer Pradeep Narvekar who deals with all correspondence and was aware of the GEC report refused to comment.