Calangute locals to move HC over illegal hoardings

Calangute: Local residents of Calangute plan to approach the Bombay high court to compel the village panchayat to remove illegal hoardings put up in the coastal village.

One of the complainants, Manuel Cardozo, questioned sarpanch Joseph Sequeira’s statement that there was no danger of hoardings collapsing. Cardozo said they will approach the court to have the hoardings removed.

“The hoardings were put up without permission from authorities,” he said.

Following the collapse of a huge hoarding on the Calangute-Mapusa road in June, the demand to remove them grew louder. Though no one was hurt, Cardozo, former sarpanch Anthony D’Souza, and Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) member Clotildes Braganza had lodged a complaint with the disaster management authority, seeking that the hoardings, which had allegedly been set up illegally, be removed.

The sarpanch had subsequently said that the panchayat issued notices to hoarding agencies on orders from the deputy collector, but that the exercise was halted after one agency obtained a stay order in the matter from the directorate of panchayats.

Sequeira also said the panchayat inspected all hoardings and confirmed that they were on firm footings.