MARGAO, OCT 4
Margao Municipal market inspector and workers had to beat a retreat on Monday noon after members of the public intervened when the officials tried to remove Goan farmers from the hinterland from selling fruits and vegetables grown in the hilly areas of the state.
MMC Market inspector Anil Shirodkar accompanied by Civic workers made his presence felt behind the police station at 12.10 pm and told the Goan vegetable and fruit vendors to vacate the footpath on grounds they were causing traffic obstruction.
However, members of the public told the Market inspector to first act on the illegal tandoori activity at the Old market and operated by a non-Goan.
The Market Inspector’s attention was drawn to the SGPDA market, where original Goans are made to sell their cultivated vegetable products on footpath under the scorching sun.
Incidentally, the vendors from the hinterland talukas of Quepem and Canacona maintained that they had been asking the authorities for nearly a decade to provide them shelter to sell their produce, but in vain.
In fact, the vendors had been knocking the doors of the all and sundry over the years, including successive Chief Ministers and the Chief Secretaries to earmark a dedicated place to sell their produce – in great demand in the town and cities.
