Locals claim demolition process was an eyewash
A JCB at work to demolish a structure at Val-Agonda beach.
CANACONA
A total of 33 illegal structures, in contravention of CRZ Regulations and identified by GCZMA, were earmarked for demolition at Val-Agonda beach on Wednesday, but only two were razed by authorities by evening.
Ten of the illegal structures were previously dismantled by their respective owners. Many locals who gathered at the site to witness the demolition were heard claiming that the process was just an eyewash, with hardly any significant demolitions taking place.
A South Goa Demolition Squad arrived at the site at 10 am, fully equipped with two JCB machines, a strong police force drawn from the Margao, Quepem, Colva and Canacona police stations led by Canacona PI Pravin Gawas, labourers from PWD (Roads), a gas cutter with operator, a pickup with necessary equipment, and a team from the electricity department and Department of Drinking Water. The team then began removing the concrete floor of an already demolished structure.
GCZMA official Raunak Desai was the identifying official, who later led the demolition squad to a ground-plus-one-storey structure, but the structure owners maintained they had obtained a stay order and the demolition process stopped, with authorities deciding to allow the owners to produce the stay order.
Canacona Mamlatdar and Magistrate Gajesh Shirodkar, along with Jt Mamlatdar Gayatri Desai, allowed the owners until 4.30 pm to bring in the necessary papers. After the owners failed to produce any supporting documents for their claims, the officials permitted them until Friday 10 am to check out the guests staying in the structures, before the structures would be taken up for demolition.
Similarly, another structure, a residential house with additional constructions identified by GCZMA for demolition, was inspected in the absence of the owners or any representatives and was marked for demolition on Friday.
By evening, only two of the illegal structures, both unused and covered kiosks, were demolished by a JCB, while another wooden compound was also demolished. Meanwhile, one owner engaged a JCB on his own to demolish a concrete compound, while the owners of some unauthorised structures began dismantling the structures themselves, and others gave assurances that they would do so on their own.
The demolition squad later withdrew from the site, stating that the demolition would be resumed on Friday.
According to sources, a total of 33 structures, as mentioned in two different orders—one with 13 structures and another with 20—were supposed to be taken up for demolition.
