MLA presses for holistic govt policy to deal with old, dangerous buildings

The debris of the concrete slab of ill-fated building near Cine Lata which were scattered on the road being cleared.

Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar

MARGAO

Asserting that neither he nor the Margao Municipal Council are responsible for the collapse of concrete slabs of the two buildings in the city, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat said there must be a holistic policy by the government to deal with old and dangerous buildings posing a danger to life and property of citizens.

In fact, Kamat said he would discuss with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday to bring about a policy for entire Goa to deal with old buildings, which are neither maintained by the landlords or by the tenants, but are standing in a dilapidated state.

After inspecting the building near Cine Lata on Saturday morning along with Margao Civic Chief Damu Shirodkar, the Margao MLA said the time has come to bring a policy on how to deal with the old and dilapidated buildings, where tenants do not vacate the premises out of fear of losing rights and the landlord do not maintain the building because of paucity of rent. 

“Everyone is blaming the Margao Municipal Council saying the civic body collects house tax and trade licence from the business establishments operating in these old buildings. But, the issue is not that simple as it looks to be as a host of legal issues are involved in such matters”, he said.

When the MLA’s attention was drawn to the old and dangerous buildings, around 30 in number identified in the city, Kamat said, “The government should come out with a policy mandating the agency to demolish such buildings after taking into account the legal rights of the tenants. The government will have to come out with a policy to deal with such properties”, 

He added: “In most instances, the building landlords are not found here. They do not take up the routine upkeep and maintenance of the buildings. On the other hand, the tenants do not want to move out of these building out of fear to losing tenancy rights”.