MARGAO
With the authorities neither razing down a building declared “unsafe” by the South Goa District Disaster Management Authority nor stopping the business activity in the building, a citizen Colin Coelho has knocked the doors of the High Court with a Writ Petition seeking justice from the concerned authorities.
The Writ Petition came up for hearing in the High Court wherein the Court has issued notices to the agencies to file reply.
Colin Coelho has sought the intervention of the High Court to the inordinate delay by the authorities to comply with the directions of the District Disaster Management Authority to raze down the “unsafe” building in question and to stop the ongoing business activities in the building.
The Writ petition filed by Coelho assumes significance given that the matter has been dragging on for over a year and half since then South Goa district Collector, Asvin Chandru, IAS had directed the Margao Municipality to initiate action against the “unsafe” building in question.
What has further prompted Coelho to knock the doors of the Judiciary is that that despite the Margao Municipal Council withdrawing the licence, it’s business as usual in the unsafe building.
RTI information sought by Coelho has revealed that the MMC had withdrawn the licence.
In fact, questions are being raised in the corridors of the Civic body how come Municipal officials turned a blind eye to the business activity in the unsafe building after it had withdrawn the licence issue to the firm.
It was on November 13, 2023 that the then Collector and Chairperson of the South Goa District Disaster Management Authority Asvin Chandru had issued an order under Section 30 Sub-section (2) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to raze down the unsafe building.
Since then, the office of the Deputy Collector, Margao had sent a host of reminders to the civic body seeking compliance of the directions passed by the District Collector.
After a host of reminders, the MMC had requisitioned the services of the demolition squad, South, but the demolition could not take place over a blame game by the Civic officials and the deputy Collector, Margao.
