TCP permission questioned *January 6, 2014*
PANJIM: Even as rescue operations at the site of the building collapse at Chaudi in Canacona wide to a close, questions are now being asked about the permission issued by the Town and Country Planning department to the building. Officials have said that the TCP department will begin a probe and an inquiry into what has happened especially whether the conditions based on which the permission were given have been flouted or whether the permission itself has been given without following the proper norms. *Locals who have been protesting the Ruby Residency project in the past, have said that not only was the gradient condition violated and permission was given for more than a permissible slope, the other question that has been raised is that of the width of the access road to the project.* *“In a situation like this, with a narrow access road and not the mandatory six metre access road it becomes difficult for the large number of people as well as machinery to access the building site and can hamper rescue operations,” a local said adding how permission was given when the land was clearly unstable, it being sloping and soft needs to be questioned and officials booked as being accountable for the tragedy.* *“The TCP officials who have given such permission without checking the ground realities including the soil condition, access road, slope gradient need to be punished for it,” he said.* Rescuers including fire department officials were on site till late evening, with Fire Chief Ashok Menon being on the site till late evening. *This is not the first time that the TCP department has been accused of granting a construction licence without physically verifying the ground realities.* Residents of Boqueachi Aradi have been fighting against another project, which has been granted a construction licence based on a ‘proposed road’ of 15 metres and not an actual road.* “At many places the width of the road is less than three metres,” the residents have said in that case.* *The High Court too has directed the State government to ensure that the TCP department conducts actual physical verification of the site before granting permissions.* *“We direct the Chief Secretary, Government of Goa to issue appropriate instructions to the Chief Town Planner to the effect that before granting permission to the Housing Project/Developers/Constructors or Builders, a thorough site inspection shall be conducted. The Chief Town Planner/Town Planner shall, after getting personally satisfied with the site inspection report and other completion of formalities proceed to grant permission accordingly,” the court order of January of 2011 reads.* Dy Town Planner & 2 engineers suspended, arrests shortly GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 06 January 2014 19:25 IST Goa government has suspended a deputy town planner and two municipal engineers of Canacona municipality, holding them responsible for the collapse of a building in Canacona, which killed over 25 workers. All three of them would be arrested shortly, confirmed chief minister Manohar Parrikar, when contacted in this regard. Deputy town planner Ashok Bandodkar of Canacona, existing municipal engineer Ajay Desai of Canacona municipality and former municipal engineer Ashank Naik Gaonkar have been suspended after preliminary inquiry. As informed by the chief minister, Desai issued occupancy certificate to the building even before completion of the structure, on 26 December, 10 days prior to the mishap. The same five-storeyed structure came down like pack of cards on 4 June, killing around 29 workers and injuring 22. Some of the dead bodies – presumably around 12 – are still under the debris. The whole block, consisting of three buildings, would be now demolished as another building has started tilting while the third building has also developed cracks. Director of Municipal Administration Elvis Gomes told goanews.com that Desai has been suspended for issuing the occupancy certificate without obtaining Stability Liability Certificate. Naik Gaonkar, who was the municipal engineer earlier, has also been suspended from the Water Resources Department, where he was transferred. “His suspension order is ready and it would be issued immediately”, confirmed Sandeep Nadkarni, chief engineer of WRD. Similarly, chief town planner S T Puttaraju confirmed having suspended his deputy town planner Bandodkar, on the charges of negligence, committing serious irregularity and dereliction of duty. According to Parrikar, Bandodkar had approved the Ruby Residency project without even seeking necessary documents and referring the matter to the chief town planner, which is necessary. Meanwhile, Puttaraju said he will also debar Vishwas Desai, the contractor-cum-engineer of the builder, as the engineer, cancelling his registration. Desai, the local contractor of Ruby Residency, is presently absconding along with the builder partners of Bharat Developers – Jagdeep Kumar Seghal and Pradeep Singh Birring. *Adjacent building starts collapsing, rescue work stopped* GOANEWS DESK, CANACONA | 06 January 2014 13:49 IST Another building, adjacent to the collapsed building of Ruby Residency, has also started collapsing. As a result, the rescue work has been stopped by the authorities. There is nobody staying in this building as it was also under construction. South Goa collector Venecio Furtado told goanews.com that the painted building adjacent to the collapsed building has started tilting. “We could even notice major cracks developed in the building. The rescue work has thus been stopped”, he said. One house, which is close to this building, has also been evacuated, said Furtado. Even electricity to the whole area has been cut off, as a safety measure. It is a block of four buildings, even having a common staircase, one building of which had collapsed on 4 January, causing major mishap. The adjacent buildings had developed cracks, but the rescue teams had continued its work pulling out people even alive, taking risk. Realising the danger of adjacent buildings collapsing, the authorities had yesterday evening had stopped the work for a while, but then decided to resume it at night. However, Furtado said they had no other option than to stop the rescue work since one building has started tilting. The rescue teams had succeeded in pulling out 45 workers trapped inside, including 17 dead bodies. The authorities have also managed to get information about 10 more workers trapped inside while few more may also be trapped. -------------- COMMENT ON GOANET@FACEBOOK by Tony Martin: While BJP-basher Tejpal is still languishing in Sada jail I wonder what course the maiden Canacona building collapse disaster will take. I wonder why our local MLA Mr. Tawadkar does not prefer to comment on this grave tragedy. Unless I missed it, I wonder why there is no interview of Tawadkar so far. (BTW we have 20+ news correspondents from the print media in Canacona.) He should have been questioned because he is the MLA and more importantly because he is one of the residents of Ruby residency. BTW everyone knows the incompetent Goa police and in this case they are going that proverbial extra mile on cementing the incompetency tag by arresting a 'poor' supervisor.... Goa's Mandovi Bridge collapsed after 16 years. Now we have under-construction buildings crumbling down. Quo Vadis Goa? Welcome to a trending new culture called *violations*. .