Authorities withdraw teams after waiting hours
Authorities and teams wait for the police to arrive for a demolition drive in Agonda.
CANACONA
The rescheduled demolition of the remaining illegal tourism structures at Val-Agonda beach was called off on Friday after the police squad failed to arrive at the site.
GCZMA representative Rounak Desai, tasked with identifying the illegal structures, reached the site, followed by the demolition team of PWD workers with a JCB and a gas cutter with an operator.
Shortly afterwards, Canacona Mamlatdar Gajesh Shirodkar and Joint Mamlatdar Gayatri Desai, along with their staff, arrived and waited for the police force to begin the demolition process.
Meanwhile, a restaurant listed among the 33 illegal structures, but left untouched on Wednesday, was being dismantled by the owner using his own workers.
With no sign of the police force, authorities called off the demolition exercise at 11.30 am, and the teams were withdrawn from the area.
When contacted, a police official in the taluka said that the force had been deployed at the Partagali Mutt, where an important religious function was scheduled on the occasion of Ram Navami.
Interestingly, during Wednesday’s demolitions, police teams were brought in from stations in Margao, Quepem, Colva and Canacona, led by Canacona Police Inspector Pravin Gawas.
According to reliable sources, two of the structures rescheduled for demolition are large properties with ground-plus-one buildings, one of which also includes a residential house.
On Wednesday morning, a total of 33 illegal structures in violation of CRZ regulations and identified by GCZMA were marked for demolition at Val-Agonda beach, but only two were demolished by evening.
