Ponda: The Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) has dropped its plan to relocate Palika bazaar vendors to a new shed on hired private land after the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) disallowed development on rented private property.At a council meeting on Friday, PMC resolved to construct a shed on its own land along the airport road and shift the vendors there.PMC is planning to reconstruct the Palika bazaar at Budhwar Peth (Upper Bazaar). To demolish the existing structure, the council needs to shift 187 vendors currently operating from the bazaar. Council chairperson Virendra Dhavalikar said the vendors will be moved to the temporary location until the new building is completed and commissioned.The council had vacated the dilapidated fish market building about a year ago and plans to include that area in the new Palika bazaar. Dhavalikar said the new building will be constructed by GSUDA, which has also been assigned the task of demolishing the fish market’s dilapidated structure.PMC had earlier planned to hire the private property for two years at a monthly rent of Rs 2.5 lakh, as the new bazaar is expected to be ready within 18 months, chief officer Bhimnath Khorjuvekar said. Members of the Ponda council and GSUDA had conducted a joint inspection of the land on May 8.Khorjuvekar added that the existing Palika bazaar is an open shed with a roof of asbestos cement (AC) sheets, while the new bazaar will be multi-storeyed.
