MARGAO
Margao Municipal Chief Officer Melvyn Vaz is bracing up to issue notice to the owner of the Old Bank of Baroda building under section 190 of the Goa Municipalities Act to submit a structural stability certificate to certify the stability of the ill-fated building.
Vaz, however, has a task at hand. One of his predecessors Manuel Barretto had issued a similar notice to the owner when a slab of the same building had collapsed around two and half years ago on October 29, 2022.
The MMC Chief Officer and the Municipal technical section need to explain to citizens the fate of the 2022 notice -- whether the owner had obtained the structural stability test report, if yes whether the report had confirmed the building was safe or unsafe; whether the agency had recommended rehabilitation of the building and if yes whether the measures were implemented by the owner and verified by the Municipal Council and the team of Municipal engineers.
As Madganvkars seek answers to these and other questions, the MMC Chief Officer said he would verify the Municipal records on the question staring at the civic body on the old Bank of Baroda building. "I will ask for the details on the 2022 incident wherein a portion of the building had collapsed on Monday, the Chief Officer told The Goan.
In October 2022, then Margao Municipal Chief Officer Manuel Barretto had been quick in issuing seven-day notice on the building owner to submit the structural stability certificate for the building.
That’s not all. Civic officials in the know have confirmed that every time an old and dilapidated building collapses in the commercial capital, the MMC makes it a point to issue a notice under section 190 of the Goa Municipalities Act to the owner to submit the structural stability certificate.
Questions are asked by Madgavkars as to why the civic body or the Disaster Management Authority waits for the dangerous buildings to crumble to ask the owners to obtain the structural stability certificate.
After the concrete slabs of two buildings came crashing down in less than 24 hours, citizens wondered when was the last time the Margao civic body or the Disaster Management Authority conducted the survey of the old and dangerous buildings. “When the Margao Municipality has a host of engineers, comprising of a Municipal engineer, Assistant Engineers, besides Junior engineers, why are they not given a routine briefing to identify the dangerous buildings in their respective areas”, wondered an official.
