Ponda: The Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) has been planning to construct a new building for its old dilapidated Palika Bazaar at Budhwar Peth (upper bazaar).“The existing one is in an open shed with a roof of asbestos cement (AC) sheets. The new one will be a multi-storeyed building,” said PMC chief officer Bhimnath Khorjuvekar. He said the new bazaar is expected to be ready within 18 months.Before getting to the construction of the new structure, the council will have to relocate the 187 vendors presently occupying the bazaar until the new building is ready and commissioned.For this, the council has resolved to construct a temporary shed on its own land along the airport road.Earlier, the council had planned to construct a temporary shed on private land at a monthly rent of Rs 2.5 lakh. A joint inspection of the land was also conducted by the members of the municipality and the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) on May 8.However, the municipality had to drop the plan as the GSUDA disallowed any development on rented private land.The new building will be constructed by the GSUDA and it has been given the task to demolish the dilapidated structure of the fish market, which was vacated about a year ago. PMC plans to include the area of the fish market building in the new Palika Bazaar.
