Ceiling collapse at Mapusa electricity office, staff safe

Panaji: A portion of concrete from the false ceiling at the Goa electricity department office in Mapusa collapsed recently and fell on a printer, though no employees were injured. The building, inaugurated in Nov 1986, had already been declared unsafe after the public works department (PWD) assessed its structural stability a few years ago.

Executive engineer at Mapusa, Subhash Parsekar, said that a part of the concrete from the false ceiling fell and govt has already decided to vacate the premises. He said the offices are likely to shift out by April or May.

“For the past three to six months, we have been trying to find a new space. Two locations have been identified, the BSNL building and the new building of the Mapusa municipality. However, the quotation for the BSNL building is very high, while the municipality has shown willingness to provide space in its new building,” Parsekar said.

He added that the department is also constructing a new ground-plus-three building at the Mapusa housing board. Offices of Division VI and XVII, along with the civil section and canteen, will eventually relocate there with parking facilities. Construction work is expected to take two to three years.

“As a temporary arrangement, we are trying to shift to the municipality building or the BSNL building,” Parsekar said.

Leader of opposition Yuri Alemao said employees are working under constant fear. He urged govt to shift staff immediately to avoid any untoward incident and demanded a structural audit of all govt buildings, including schools, across the state.