MARGAO
Congress-turned-BJP Margao MLA Digambar Kamat parried a question over the defunct fire hydrants and the absence of an overhead water tank to meet fire exigencies around the Margao Municipal-owned New Market and Gandhi Market.
The Margao MLA, however, was quick to point out that the fire incident should be a wakeup call and an eye opener for the authorities, including the police, RTO, Collectorate and the Margao Municipality to take necessary measures to avoid such incidents.
Kamat told the media that he has instructed by Deputy Collector, Uday Prabhudesai to call for an urgent meeting of the authorities in a day or two and to hold site inspections to ensure that they put the fire precautions in place.
Terming the fire incident as dangerous, the Margao MLA said the fire could have destroyed the hundreds of shops and stalls in the New Market had not the fire brigade controlled the fire on time. “This is a real danger posing to the hundreds of shops and stalls run by the common man. I have told the Deputy Collector, DySP and the Traffic to take stock of the situation and identify the illegalities, if any. The time has come to set the market in order. We should not cry afterwards,” he said, while instructing the authorities not to show leniency to the violators.
