A 98-year-old Portuguese-era structure has been declared a unit for occupation, a stability report sought by Canacona Municipal Council(CMC) has revealed. However, due to a pending court case, CMC’s action to demolish the structure is likely to be delayed.
According to sources, following public demands for action against some unsafe buildings in the municipality, CMC had reportedly verified the sites and had later referred five different structures to the Goa Engineering College (GEC) for a stability report.
The structural stability report mentions a structure located adjacent to the main road and partially collapsed has severe structural deficiencies, is not fit for human occupation and needs to be removed safely to prevent any harm to the public.
“The structure is not stable and fit for demolition,” the GEC report stated.
The stability report observed that the roof of the structure at the central part and backside has collapsed, leaving the interior exposed to rains.
This 98-year-old structure near the Margao bus stop used to house the iconic Cafetaria Babu Hotel with a newspaper stand and was used extensively until the late nineties. Besides, there were some vegetable shops, general store points, and some other commercial activities. However, with the passing away of the Café Babu owner, the hotel stopped functioning after a period of time, while only a few of the commercial activities continued.
As there was no maintenance to the building, the rear portion of the structure had collapsed way back in 2022.
According to sources, one of the tenants having claims over the building had reportedly approached a court to allow/permit covering the collapsed portion with plastic or tarpaulin.
“A complainant has approached the court only in 2023, and the court has given another date at the end of this month to hear a plea to allow him to put plastics to cover the partially damaged building. Till such time at least, action to demolish the building has to be kept in abeyance by CMC,” said Shankar Naik, who has a claim on the building
