But the traders see red in the Municipal scheme, raising serious reservations over the plan to relocate all the 450 traders in one building in small cubicle admeasuring 4-5 meters.
A day after the Margao Municipal Council gave its nod for the GSUDA plan for rehabilitation of the displaced traders, the Municipal decision was no music to the ears of the gadda traders anxiously waiting for successive governments to come out with a rehabilitation package for the displaced owners.
Says Margao Gadda Traders Association president Prashant Naik: “We fail to understand the rationale behind the plan to relocate all the displaced gadda traders in one place. Our only plea to the Civic and government authorities is not to make matters worse for the traders”.
Prashant sounded agitated over the plan approved by the Margao Municipal Council drawn by the GSUDA.
“It is indeed surprising that when the plan is intended to rehabilitate the displaced gadda traders, the authorities had not courtesy to take into account the views and opinions of the stakeholders, including the gadda traders”, he said.
Prashant said the gadda traders have strong reservations to the plan to house all the displaced traders under one roof. “Presently, only the few traders rehabilitated temporarily at the pick-up stand and the road going to Alto Monte are doing some business. Relocating the traders in small cubicles in one place will not help address the grievances of the traders”, he added.
Even the city fathers are sympathetic to the questions raised by the gadda traders. Councillor Sadanand Naik admitted that relocating all the 450 traders at one place indeed brings to the fore the serious issue of business.
Outside the corridors of the civic body, the rehabilitation plan has raised eyebrows with many a gadda being operated by outsiders, in many cases, to run the illegal matka business.
During the anti-encroachment drive carried out by the civic body around 1998-99 upon orders of the high court, around 100 gaddas were removed from the road sides, while many others from road widening areas are yet to be relocated.
