Goemkarponn desk
CANACONA: The demolition of 78 alleged illegal houses in the land of Communidade of Canacona in Agonda Village is postponed at the eleventh hour.
According to reliable sources, the demolition is postponed due to the non-availability of police personnel to provide the necessary protection to the squad while undertaking demolition tasks.
The sources informed that though the Administrator of Communidade (South) has formed teams to undertake the demolition of 78 houses already earmarked to be identified by Communidade of Canacona, a request made to Goa Police to the police protection to the demolition got a negative response from the police authorities.
“The police authorities reportedly expressed their inability to provide the force due to some other engagements of the police force and have also sought to finalise a new date for the demolition”, informed the source.
The demolition is reportedly the outcome of an ongoing higher-court matter for the past several years compelling the Administrator of Communidade (South) to act, while it is alleged that a similar matter is also being heard in a lower court of Canacona.
78 houses, mostly residential constructed by local residents spread in three different locations of the village, are reportedly marked for demolitions for alleged illegal constructions in communidade land.
It may be recalled that following the demolition order by the Administrator of Communidade( South), Congress leader Janardhan Bhandari was the first to ask the government not to run bulldozers on the houses of Bahujan and Minority Society of Canacona after revealing government has initiated a process to demolish 78 houses in Agonda alone.
Later, AAP leader Sandesh Telekar along with Bhandari, after meeting the aggrieved people staying in their houses, made a fervent appeal to the government to defer the demolition and take measures to legalise/regularise the houses belonging to Bahujan and other minority communities in Canacona.
While the authorities were all making preparations and giving final touches for the commencement of demolition, unconfirmed sources stated Canacona MLA and GLA Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar, who was also earlier apprised of the impending 78 houses demolition threat, had, along with Agonda Sarpanch Fatima Rodrigues approached Chief Minister at Panjim on Monday.
According to the sources, although the Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant, has reportedly initially refused to intervene, he assured to look into the matter positively.
With the demolition sword still hanging on their houses, there was. However, stoic silence amongst the affected people did not know what to expect on Tuesday; D-Day was fixed for the demolition of 78 houses in Agonda.
While many were expecting the movement of demolition machinery to one of the three sites (places), demolition is scheduled, beginning early Tuesday morning; many heaved a big relief, as neither the machinery nor the officers (demolition squad) reached the village even past 10′ o’clock in the morning.
It was then revealed that the demolition drive was postponed to an unknown date due to the non-availability of the police force to provide the necessary police protection to the demolition squad.
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