Team Herald
MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council (MMC) was forced to demolish an under-construction coffee shop in the garden at Old Market following strong objections from local residents. The site, located near the Civil and Criminal Court building, falls within a designated conservation zone.
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In 2024, residents had filed a formal complaint questioning the construction, asserting that the land housing the garden does not belong to the MMC. They pointed out that, according to the Outline Development Plan (ODP), the area is classified as a conservation zone, where any construction requires prior approval from the Conservation Committee of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department—an approval the MMC had not obtained.
The demolition comes amid concerns over the MMC’s development plans, which had included the coffee shop as part of a larger beautification project for the garden. Residents maintained that the construction violated conservation zone regulations.
A senior MMC technical official confirmed that the structure was dismantled after verifying that no permissions had been granted for the project. “We have reviewed the files, and it has been found that no approvals were granted for the construction,” the official stated.
