Team Herald
ARAMBOL: With the onset of the tourist season, shops and stalls along the coastal belt of Arambol have flourished, even on the footpaths, causing inconvenience to pedestrians forcing them to walk on roads. This in turn is triggering traffic jams at various places during peak hours. Annoyed locals have demanded to clear the footpaths allowing the tourists to walk freely, and avoid any untoward incident on roads.
The panchayat had taken strict action on encroachments for the last many years. However, post covid, the stall and shop owners, along with hawkers have occupied most of the walking space on footpaths. Fruit, vegetable vendors, cloth merchants have also encroached the footpaths.
The narrow road leading to the beach is flooded with tourist vehicles. The pedestrians walking on the road due to lack of footpaths has led to chaotic situations. Locals have lent their shops and stalls to outsiders, but are turning blind to the encroachment. A resident Suresh Naik has demanded that the owners should take initiative and ask the tenants to keep their items within permissible limits.
Locals have also demanded strict action by panchayat on the encroachers.
