A firefighter on the job to bring down the debris with a gas cutter on Friday evening.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Hours after the canopy/slab of the Old Bank of Baroda building collapsed on Friday noon, officials of the Salcete Mamlatdar office got the building totally vacated by late evening.
A team of officials led by Mamlatdar Bugde descended at the building site and took stock of the situation. He then ordered the occupants of the building to vacate immediately as a precautionary measure.
Bugde pointed out that the fire brigade, in coordination with an agency, had cleared the debris hanging on the building by Friday evening. Given that the debris had landed in the gallery of the first floor of the building, it was pointed out that officials will meet on Saturday to further assess the situation and take a decision on razing down the canopy of the first floor as well.
Meanwhile, Deputy Collector, Margao, Ganesh Barve has issued an order to the Margao Municipal Chief Officer to initiate immediate mobilisation of disaster response teams and suitable heavy equipment to clear all debris from the collapsed site and ensure that operations are carried out under proper supervision to prevent injury or further damage.
The Chief Officer has also been instructed to evacuate all adjacent commercial establishments and residences that are physically connected to or structurally dependent on the affected building.
Besides, the Deputy Collector has directed the MMC Chief Officer to completely vacate and seal off the Old Bank of Baroda building until a detailed structural stability report is issued by a qualified engineering expert.
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Firefighters step in
The Margao fire brigade was on the job on Friday evening to clear the weak canopy/slab from the Old Bank of Baroda building to prevent further collapse of the structure.
While the promised breaker with JCB could not report at the site, the fire personnel completed the job of clearing the hanging portion of the canopy with the help of a gas cutter mounted on a vehicle.
While a substantial area of the loose canopy/slab was cleared in the operation, the debris is reported to have fallen on the gallery on the building’s first floor, raising apprehensions that the canopy/slab of the first floor may come crumbling down.
Fire officer Gill D’Souza said pieces of the slab had fallen on the first floor of the gallery during the operation. “We need a JCB breaker to clear the canopy of the first floor as well. Otherwise, there is a possibility of the structure coming down,” Gill said, adding that he will communicate to Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to make available the JCB breaker on priority.
Meanwhile, the road leading to the Gandhi Market and New Market from Govind Poi Raiturkar shop has been shut for heavy vehicles as a precaution in view of the incident near the Pimpalkatta. Traffic police and Margao police were manning the points and regulating the traffic.
Margao Municipal workers were deployed to clear the concrete debris from the road on Friday noon and evening.
