City Corporation defers decision on handcarts

PANJIM: The special meeting of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) could not decide on the fate of the handcarts in the city and 15 days time frame has been given to the CCP Commissioner to present a final report.

Tuesday’s meeting witnessed heated arguments between the Mayor Surendra Furtado and the chairman of the market committee Uday Madkaikar on the issue of the handcarts and the inquiry report.

The Mayor said, “Since the Corporators had received the inquiry report this afternoon, they said they require time to study the report. Meanwhile, the Commissioner will write to the ATO to study the report and also go through the original documents of the handcarts and reply to the Commissioner. The Commissioner in 15 days time will place the final report in front of the Council.”

The inquiry report formulated by the committee under the chairmanship of Madkaikar has concluded that though the CCP has been sanctioned 72 handcarts, there are 110 handcarts operational in the capital city, of which 91 handcart owners have submitted relevant documents of ownership and possession as required by CCP.

The committee has further proposed that in the absence of hawkers zone in the city, the handcarts be temporarily be shifted to Church square on humanitarian grounds as that is the only source of livelihood for a number of handcart owners. The proposal included that the 18th June Road be declared a no hawkers zone.

Meanwhile, the CCP passed a resolution demanding common cadre for the CCP and municipalities.

The Council took exception to the works undertaken by Reliance Jio of laying underground cables in the city without obtaining permissions from the CCP. The meeting resolved to file complaints against Reliance JIO for digging the roads without its permission.