“If there was a minor cyclonic wind they would have been gone. They survived only because of the embankments made by the Water Resources department there,” he said on Saturday.
The demolition of huts, which the government had said were threatened by soil erosion, at Baina on Friday, had irked the Opposition which alleged that the government move was politically motivated as the residents, most of whom are from bordering Karnataka are ‘Congress voters.’
They had also alleged that government went against the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court’s order as it had stayed the demolition minutes before the process began on Friday. It had warned to move contempt of court proceedings against the government even as eight huts, which were also among the vulnerable ones, were not razed.
It was also established that most of the huts were sub-let by the original owners to migrants who paid a hefty rent for the same. .
It may be recalled that South Goa Collector Venancio Furtado and disaster management team on Friday demolished 66 huts and four religious structures cnstructed within the high tide zone at Baina, triggering protests from the Congress party which said the demolition was politically motivated.
