Upper ceiling of Social Welfare Department collapsed in Silvassa Collectorate, questions raised on Administrator’s “quality guarantee”, discussion of corruption allegations intensified : Lalit Patel

Upper ceiling of Social Welfare Department collapsed in Silvassa Collectorate, questions raised on Administrator’s “quality guarantee”, discussion of corruption allegations intensified

(Luhari Times)

Silvas, 26 September 2024 The Upper ceiling of the third floor of A wing of the Collectorate Building of Dadra and Nagar Haveli suddenly collapsed, due to which the work of the Social Welfare Department located there has come to a standstill. This incident happened when officers and employees were present in the office, but fortunately no one was seriously injured. This incident has raised serious questions on the quality of administration, especially when this is the same building whose construction work was still in progress and the Honorable Administrator got this building inaugurated by the Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji even before the construction work was completed.

The Administrator repeatedly talks about the quality and transparency of the construction work from public forums. But this recent incident has exposed these claims of the administration. The question arises that when the administration gives ‘quality guarantee’ in every project, then how are such errors coming to light?

The collapse of the ceiling of the building is a serious matter and if any officer or employee gets injured due to this, then who would be responsible for it? Will the administration take any strict action against the contractor in this matter?

Another question is rapidly emerging in the minds of the people – is there any big corruption hidden behind this incident? How was substandard material used in an important government construction like the building? Was it the negligence of the contractor or the collusion of the administrative officials?

When the construction work of the building was going on, did the PWD employees inspect the work before passing the bill?

Yes, if that contractor is from North Gujarat, then it is possible that no action will be taken against him because that contractor will have the patronage of the Honorable Administrator?

1200 bed hospital and test of administration’s quality

Not just the Collector’s building, the construction of the 1200 bed hospital being built in Silvassa has also come under question. Incidents of water dripping on the second floor of the hospital have already come to light. In such a situation, who will be responsible if any kind of accident happens in the hospital? Will the administration cite ‘quality guarantee’ this time too, or will it take any concrete steps?
If someone had died in the accident in the Collector’s building, the administration would have been criticized even more.

After this incident, the local public is getting angry with the administration. People are asking whether the administration will take strict action against this contractor, blacklist him, or try to suppress the corruption charges?

In recent times, the district administration has been taking strict action against liquor traders and giving them notices and heavy fines. Efforts are being made to collect money from them by threatening to pay VAT. But the question is, will the administration take the same strict action against this contractor who has tampered with the quality of the government building?

Social activists say that the administration should take immediate action in this matter and impose a fine on the contractor found guilty and blacklist him from future projects. If this does not happen, then the message will go to the people that the administration is promoting corruption and negligence.

In Dadra and Nagar Haveli, not only the Collector Bhawan, but also other government buildings are facing bad condition. Somewhere cracks are seen in the bridge, somewhere there are reports of slabs breaking in other government buildings.

Although the administration officials are avoiding speaking openly on these matters, but there is a strong discussion among the public that behind these incidents, there is a lot of discussion.