Ponda municipality razes eight kiosks for road expansion works

Ponda: Eight kiosks, which their owners claimed dated to the Portuguese era, have been demolished by the Ponda municipality.
The civic body said the structures lay in the road widening area at Sadar, Ponda. The structures were razed under police cover.
Shopkeepers accused the municipality of not providing them with a proper place for rehabilitation.
Vishant Naik, a municipal engineer of the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC), said the demolition on Saturday was in compliance with a court order to remove all kiosks under the road widening area.
Ponda MLA and agriculture minister Ravi Naik said the municipality had heeded the court order. The Panaji corporation has also removed such kiosks, he said.
“In one alternative shop shown by the PMC, pieces of a slab collapsed when the shutter was opened,” said Amol Naik, a shopkeeper. “Nobody is ready to go to the market complex.”
Advocate Surel Tilve said that the PMC had already renewed kiosk licences up to 2026. “If the PMC had to demolish their shops, why did it renew the licences,” he said.