The rear portion of the Casa Menezes building that collapsed on Saturday morning. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Magvakars woke up on Saturday morning to hear the news of the collapse of a portion of the Casa Menezes building at the entrance to the Gandhi market, bringing to the fore the question of safety of old buildings in the commercial capital.
While the rear portion of the building came crashing down in the wee hours of morning at around 2.30 am, as many as three columns of the adjoining Katkar building were left damaged after the debris landed on the building. Fortunately, no one, however, was injured in the incident.
South Goa district Collector Ruchika Katyal moved in swiftly and exercising powers under the Disaster Management Act, directed the Margao Municipal Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes to immediately evacuate the occupiers of the partly collapsed building in order to safeguard the lives of the occupants with immediate effect and to avoid any untoward incident.
Acting on the report filed by the Salcete Mamlatdar, Prataprao Gaonkar, the Collector told the Chief Officer to immediately stop any trade/business activities in the partly collapsed building and to provide all necessary assistance to PWD Buildings Works Division, VIII, Fatorda for removal of the debris.
The Collector also directed the PWD EE, Div. VIII to demolish the dangerous portions or all of the building, as the need be, named as Casa Menezes.
The Fire Services have been directed to provide all necessary assistance to the PWD Building works Division for removal of the debris and ensure safety at the site during the operation. The Mamlatdar of Salcete has been directed to provide necessary Magisterial and Police support to ensure law and order is maintained throughout the operation.
All the agencies have been directed to commence the operation immediately and to submit compliance report to the Collector at the earliest.
The Mamlatdar told the media that the debris of the collapsed portion of the Casa Menezes building landed on the adjacent building, damaging 2-3 pillars of the building, besides damaging a concrete beam.
In his report to the Collector, the Mamlatdar pointed out that on inspection of the building and considering the age of the building, revealed that it is not safe for habitants and also to carry out business activities as the remaining part may also collapse. He said directions were issued to the owners to close the shops. The Margao police later cordoned off the building area.
The rear side of the collapsed building brought down the Royal Lodge located on the first floor. The debris came down on the kitchen of the eatery on the ground floor and the neighbouring building.
Margao Municipal and PWD engineers rushed to the spot around noon to take stock of the situation. An agency was at work in the evening to erect steel rods to support the damaged beam of the adjoining building.
