MARGAO
As a slab of an old building came crashing down in Mapusa, the echo was felt in the commercial capital with a big question “ has the Margao Municipal Council executed the order of the South Goa District Disaster Management Authority to raze down an “unsafe” building in the commercial capital?
In November 2023, South Goa District Collector and Chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority, Asvin Chandru, IAS, had ordered the demolition of an “unsafe” building right in the heart of the commercial capital.
It’s now a little over five months since the Disaster Management Authority issued directions to the Margao Municipal Council to raze down the structure, but the building still stands tall, leaving citizens to wonder whether the building is now safe for habitation and if the demolition order is no more in force.
Inquiries by 'The Goan', however, revealed that the office of the Collector has been repeatedly asking the Margao Municipal Council for compliance of the order to demolish the building. Every time, the MMC received the correspondence from the Collector’s office for compliance, the civic body delayed the demolition under one pretext or other.
This has thrown up a question of debate about whether the orders passed by the Disaster Management Authority can be ignored by the civic body and whether the Authority can assume powers of the local civic body to execute orders.
According to sources in the Margao Municipal Council, the file for the execution of the Disaster Management Authority’s order is stuck at the level of higher civic officials. The sources said the MMC technical section has put notings in the official file to pave the way for the building's demolition and the engineers are awaiting the green signal from the senior civic officials to execute the order.
Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar was not available for comment since he is presently on leave. A MMC engineer sought to defend the delay in executing the Collector’s order, by pointing out that the civic body has no wherewithal or resources to raze down a multi-storied building.
Collectorate officials in the know, however, said it is precisely because the local civic bodies, including the municipalities and the panchayats have no mechanism to carry out demolition orders, that the government had put in place a Demolition Squad to execute demolition orders.
In this instance, however, the MMC has yet to make any formal request to the Demolition squad to execute the Collector’s order for reasons best known to the civic babus.
Safety at stake: MMC draws flak for lack of intervention
Has the Margao Municipal Council any answer to the host of old and dilapidated buildings dotting across the commercial capital, more so if the city had witnessed the collapse of buildings or concrete slabs during the last two monsoons?
The civic body says a list of old and dilapidated buildings dotting across the commercial capital in compliance with the Disaster Management Authority’s directions to the civic bodies to identify a list of old and unsafe buildings in their respective jurisdiction.
What’s next is a question that may come to haunt the MMC given that some of the old and dilapidated buildings have been standing tall over the years sans maintenance and virtually abandoned by the owners. For, amongst these old and dilapidated buildings, the ground floors are being used for commercial activities, when the top floors have been craving for attention from the owners and tenants.
Former Margao Municipal Chairperson Savio Coutinho wondered whether the MMC had carried out the exercise to identify old and dilapidated buildings as per the ground reality. For, he pointed out that some of the structures that had collapsed in the last three years did not find a mention in the list of old and dilapidated buildings.
Madgavkars have a question or two for the Margao Municipal Council to answer “ how come the civic body issued a trade license to a footwear showroom when the structural stability report in 2018 was categorical in saying the building was unsafe for human habitation?
Even as officials heading the Municipal sections resorted to the usual blame game, the City Fathers and the municipal babus and the powers that be may have to further answer how come the civic body failed to act when the structural stability report stated that the unsafe building may collapse and result into loss of property and human life.
A glance at the building structural stability report prepared by the Goa College of Engineering, Farmugudi stated that the condition of the structure is beyond repairable and retrofittable. The report further stated that as the building is precariously standing and vehicles are being parked in front of the building, the threat due to a collapse of the structure may result in loss of property and human life.
That’s not all. The report further stated that hanging Gl sheets from the roof may lead to casualties and pose a threat to property and human life, adding “several incidents of falling of loose spalled concrete, construction material have taken place (As indicated by residents of the building during testing of the structure).”
The report was categorical in saying the building in question has no maintenance and is very weak in general. “The 3rd floor structural members are exposed and have become weak. Structural elements are unfit for strengthening or retrofitting. Second floor structural members although are not exposed but due to leakage and non maintenance have become porous, rebars are corroded and at some places rebars are vanished. Cracks in structural members resulted in poor strength. All the members are not viable for retrofitting,” the report stated.
The report added: “First floor structural members although are not exposed but due to leakage and stagnation of water (in monsoons) and non-maintenance all members have become porous, rebars are corroded and at some places rebars are vanished. Walls are damp and vegetation growth is seen. Most of the rooms are affected by fungal growth. Cracks in structural members resulted in poor strength. Spalling of concrete from structural members is a very common feature. All the members are not fit for retrofitting”.
The UPV results have shown that concrete in all accessible columns are weak indicating concrete quality grading is "doubtful". This proved that the concrete is Poor and loss of integrity exists in the members (See Table indicating General Guidelines for Concrete Quality based on UPV enclosed). None of the columns have indicated possessing the minimum required strength in them.
