Eight years back the then Urban Development Minister and former MLA of Cuncolim Joaquin Alemao had initiated and built a well-planned Market complex to bring all vendors under one roof. It was also planned to have specious parking lot and also arrangements were made to store and dispose garbage.
Come Sunday over 100 fruit and vegetable vendors come to sell their product which is called Sunday market. People from Cuncolim and neighbouring areas flock to the Sunday market for their week-long purchases.
After eight years things have changed drastically. The garbage store room has been illegally rented to some businessman who sells onion and potatoes. In the absence of proper management for parking vehicles there is total mess and commotion. The parking lot and even both the market entrances are being used by vendors leaving customers little space to move around.
During the Sunday market, vegetable, fruit and other vendors erect their stalls without proper planning leaving little or no space for shoppers to move around. To make things worse, the four-wheelers are allowed to park inside the complex which increases the congestion. Also Cuncolim Municipal Council’s heavy vehicles, parked inside the complex, occupy maximum space.
Some local vegetable growers are allowed by the CMC to occupy the footpath to sell their products.
In the absence of proper traffic management there is always congestion in the market and on the Cuncolim-Naingilo Road.
The CMC receives about Rs 80,000 per month as revenue besides the annual rent from the shop owners. But the market, which has made its mark with customers, is in a mess because of the lethargic attitude and negligence of the Council.
Though the Sunday market brings in lot of revenue for the CMC coffers, the Council doesn’t provide facilities to the consumers. There is only one toilet which is used by women, leaving the men to urinate in the open. The vendors and shopkeepers have made many representations to the CMC, all falling on deaf ears.
Vendors coming in from Belgavi for the Sunday market arrive on Saturday night and cook inside the market. They also cook on Sunday afternoon in the complex using the store room illegally as a kitchen. The vendors coming from outside create the mess as they defecate in the open and even have bath in the open in the absence of washrooms and toilets, sources said.
The Council has three contract workers to supervise the Sunday market and collect the sopo tax. Besides, five female workers are employed to clean the market, which has space for selling fish, flower, vegetable and other items. Since the market is a huge complex, the Council is not very prompt to clean the waste, which include chicken and mutton waste. Many vendors and shopkeepers dump their waste in the open drainage which makes things worse.
Recently at a Council meeting the messy market issue came up for discussion. Councilors provided an unethical suggestion of shifting the market near the KTC bus stand, except for Mario Morais who said the Council has to think about the feasibility of shifting the market.
