Staff Reporter

Mapusa

Bardez deputy collector Uday Prabhu Dessai has directed assistant registrar of cooperative society and excise inspector to get the lifts in the building, housing the Mapusa excise office, repaired immediately.

Recently, The Navhind Times had carried a report highlighting the plight of citizens visiting the office, which is located on the fifth floor of the building in Mapusa, given the fact that the lifts are in non-working condition.

Taking cognisance of the news report, co-coordinator GOACAN Roland Martins had written to the Bardez deputy collector and sub divisional magistrate specifically pointing out that it takes approximately 100 steps to reach the excise office on the 5th floor of the private building due to the lifts being out of order.

Accordingly, officials had visited the building and carried out an inspection. The office is mostly visited by traders dealing with liquor who have to make trips to obtain excise licence.

In a letter to officials, Dessai said that “you will be held liable for negligence if any senior citizen or a person with disability falls or collapses while climbing the steps and suffers injury or dies. It will result in action under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and other relevant Acts and Rules in force.”