The Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited office building at Saheed Nagar in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 20: Employees of transmission project and construction division of Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) are working under unsafe conditions as their office building is on the verge of collapsing.

Barring this department, all other departments functioning in the five-storeyed building have shifted to a new building.

The building was inaugurated on October 29, 1979. But within a span of 30 years, it has practically been abandoned. The outer walls have started cracking and iron rods are jutting out. In some of the nooks, trees have taken root.

In the past, slabs of the building have also fallen off, but luckily no one has been injured. The employees are scared.

“The building has become unsafe. Thank God we have life insurances. Otherwise no one can imagine what will happen,” said an employee. He also said that in the past six months, they have been informed about vacating the building, but nothing has been done so far.

Surprisingly, the building has not been declared officially unsafe yet. According to official sources, the building will be renovated once all the offices are shifted. “The outer part of the building is unsafe, whereas the inner portions are fine. There is a proposal to reconstruct the building. But the decision to declare the building as unsafe lies with the authorities,” said a senior official of the department.

However, the authorities of transmission project and construction division said that they would shift to the new building within a month. “Unlike other offices running in the building, we have a bigger set up. It would take some time to shift the documents. But we will shift to the new building within a month,” said Ashish Kumar Sarkar, senior general manager of OPTCL’s transmission project and construction division.

On the other hand, employees working in this building have requested authorities to move to a safe building at the earliest. According to chief general manager, construction OPTCL, J.P. Das, the finishing touches are being given to the new office where they would be shifted.

“Minor work is left and within one month the office will be shifted,” he said.