This refers to your report Herald 19th August 2017- “After Residents, Dengue hits Vasco Parish Priest”.

For the last few decades, the local residents of the Vasco City area have been crying foul about the conduct of the Saptah Fair in the thickly residential area of Vasco city. At any given time in fair weather, the residents are plagued with the problem of drinking water, parking, garbage, noise pollution, coal and other dust pollution , fire safety, health issues, et al. As if this is not enough, the high handed Local Municipal council and authorities impose the Vasco saptah festival during the Monsoons on the local residents just to satisfy their  personal agenda  with no concern  for the residents nor the stall owners – all in the misused  name of God.

No one wants the Saptah to be done away with. All that the residents want is  that it should be shifted to a safer place and conducted in a more humane manner. If one has a look at the Chaos that exists during the two weeks at Vasco, (Though the authorities claim it to be for Seven days) it is beyond ones understanding how in this age and time our governments can allow thousands of plastic covered stalls complete with Power supply from the mains, each with a group of about five to six persons to live, cook, eat, bathe, defecate, urinate, sleep, dress, wash and may be even have sex, in cubicles   of 2m X 2m on the footpaths and by lanes of Vasco. And we talk of Swachh Bharat!! The local residents on their part are deprived of the little parking that they have in normal times and have to park their vehicles often at a distance of a kilometer or more. If any one has baggage to carry- God help him/her. Although the municipality claims that they have room for vehicles in an emergency, one wonders how through a crowd of thousands of  revelers, and with major roads blocked, a fire brigade or an ambulance  can reach any spot in time. The garbage of plastic and non biodegradable material  is mountainous and however much one may try most of it is cleared only  a few days after the stall owners have left the place. The “Parque Infantile” a beauty spot in the city area is used to park the few mobile toilets. Every morning these are emptied into sewage tanker truck. The stink that this operation leaves behind on a daily basis has only to be experienced to be believed. And with the stink spreads the virus. This year local families after families have been struck with the viral infections and fevers which were unprecedented. The way the stall operators with their families and even babies live is not only a health risk for them but also a major factor in the spread off dreaded diseases like “DENGUE”. 

It is high time the authorities, councillors, MLA’s Health departments put their heads together and have a Saptah Fair that is fair to all and sundry instead of the chaos that one encounters.