Team Herald
CALANGUTE: Activists from Calangute have claimed that an illegal dance bar-nightclub that had been partially demolished by the local panchayat on August 5 is now being rebuilt, violating a court order.
Activist Sudesh Mayekar, who along with Kundan Kerkar had last year filed a PIL against alleged dance bars operating illegally in Calangute and Baga, said on Wednesday that a complaint had been lodged last week with the Calangute village panchayat with the demand that the illegal reconstruction be stopped immediately.
Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira admitted that the complaint had been received, but said that the matter would be discussed during the panchay at body meeting on December 16.
Following Mayekar and Kerkar’s PIL in the High Court, the panchayat had conducted a site inspection of some of the premises and they were sealed. During the inspection of Tao nightclub at Baga, it was found that the structure reportedly did not have any valid permissions and it was operating without permission from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) authorities.
When the owners of the premises did not produce the relevant documents despite a notice from the panchayat, a demolition notice was served on them by the panchayat authorities. The owners appealed against this first to the director of panchayats and then to the district court, but both their pleas
were dismissed.
After this, the panchayat started the demolition process in August.The ground-plus-one structure was found to have nine rooms on the first floor. The premises were allegedly used for illegal activities, panchayat secretary Arjun Velip said.
After the structure was partially demolished by the panchayat, the owners were given three months to demolish the rest. Far from completing the demolition, the structure is now being rebuilt.