Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: Legislation has been proposed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to audit and demolish the State’s unsafe older structures.
In response to a private members’ resolution put forth by MLA Krishna Salkar, the chief minister also voiced apprehension about ordering the owners of dangerous private buildings to force their occupants out without providing adequate relocation provisions, all of which will be outlined in the proposed bill.
In order to guarantee resident safety, the resolution—which had bipartisan support—requested that government organizations, in particular the Public Works Department, promptly carry out a structural audit of all single-family and multi-family buildings older than thirty years.
Sawant acknowledged that there are a number of structures that are at least thirty years old, some of which date back to the Portuguese era. He said that although some of these structures, which include both public and private buildings, may be structurally sound, others might not.
To solve these problems, a bill or legislation must be introduced. It is not possible to take action without a bill. It will also be necessary to properly relocate residents of privately owned buildings that have been deemed unfit, and this time needs to be allocated.The bill will handle everything.
Advocate General Devidas Pangam will be given instructions to research the issue in order to draft a bill, the CM continued.
Sawant emphasized the dangerous state of some government buildings, pointing out that the Social Welfare office—where a partial roof collapse was recently reported—is being moved and that Junta House’s case has been in court for decades. The Junta House, which houses a number of government buildings, has been in disrepair for a while.
“The Social Welfare office is currently in the process of moving. As it’s a historically significant building, only renovations are permitted, according to Sawant.
In response to Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao’s demand for action against 25 buildings deemed unsafe, Sawant stated that new buildings would take their place and the old ones would be demolished. Additionally, he accepted MLA Digambar Kamat’s proposal to create a bill that would specify what would happen to unfit buildings following an audit.
