Staff Reporter
Ponda
Tension gripped Shapur in Ponda on Tuesday after a landowner arrived with a bulldozer to demolish 31 illegal hutments on his property. The landowner had won a court case against the occupants, and based on the court’s demolition order, he initiated the process of clearing the encroachments.
However, the affected families, fearing homelessness, pleaded for more time. With the intervention of Bandora sarpanch Ramchandra Naik and other panchayat members, the landowner agreed to grant them a 15-day extension to vacate the premises.
According to sources, Zehruddin Mulla from Ponda had moved court against the 31 families for illegally settling on his property in Ward 11 of Bandora panchayat. After years of legal proceedings, the court recently ruled in his favour and ordered the removal of the structures. Following this, Mulla arrived at the site with a bulldozer to enforce the order.
Shapur remains one of Ponda’s major slum-like areas, with over 200 families living in hutment structures, many lacking proper power and water connections.
