COLVA: The South Goa district administration Friday began the drive to remove encroachments along the Margao-Colva road ahead of the eighth BRICS summit. The BRICS summit will be held in Goa on October 14 and 15 and will be attended by heads of states including Prime minister Narendra modi.
It may be recalled that the district administration had directed the public after the review meeting for the preparation of the summit that all encroachments along the way leading to the venue of the BRICS summit should be removed.
The district administration was taken by surprise to see members of the public cooperating with the authorities as people began dismantling their structures on their own leaving the authorities the task of removing only the advertising boards, which were installed by the roadside.
Colva sarpanch Menino Fernandes said that notices were served to the houses and business establishments to remove the encroachments on the 25-metre road widening area from Mungul Junction to Colva church. He said that surprisingly, the people cooperated and dismantled their structures on their own. He said some structures were dismantled overnight ahead of the demolition.
Speaking to reporters Deputy Collector Ajit Panchwadkar said that the demolition team had arrived to remove the encroachments on the Margao-Colva road. “However, the demolition team did not have to act as members of the public themselves began dismantling their structures,” he said.
Panchwadkar said in all 20 structures were removed by the public while the demolition squad removed the advertising boards by the roadside belonging to commercial establishments. He said a total of 30 boards were cleared and the drive will continue on Saturday. He said that cutting of trees and shifting of the electricity poles is also being carried out simultaneously for widening the road. Panhwadkar said that there was no untoward incident reported and the clearing of the roadside encroachments was carried out peacefully.