Team Herald 

MAPUSA: The Mapusa municipal market was flooded on Wednesday following heavy downpour as rainwater entered most shops severely affecting the business of street vendors. 

Claiming that the Mapusa market flooding is an annual feature, members of Mapusa Merchants’ Association (MMA) said, “Every year the market gets inundated and whenever we approach the Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC), the civic authorities say that they have cleaned the gutters and no flooding will take place. And every year with continuous downpour, the market gets flooded.”

A Mapusa resident said, “Every year the whole market gets flooded during monsoon. There is no place for people even to stand. The gutters keep overflowing forcing the people to walk in stinking water”.

A shop owner informed that the previous drains were bigger than the new ones and this is the reason that the water has entered their shops.

A MMA member said, “When we approach the chairperson regarding the flooding in the market, the chief assures us to study the problem and solve it before monsoon. However, when the monsoon is about to begin, there is a change in guard in the municipal council. Then, if we meet the Chief Officer, the official claims to be overburdened with additional charges. No official is ready to take the responsibility to look into the Mapusa market flooding. Vendors are forced to sit in waterlogged areas in the market while people are forced to walk through the stinking water overflowing from the clogged drains”.

Rohan Kavlekar said, “The gutters in the market have been desilted and the nullah behind the market has been opened. GSUDA has constructed two gutters to ensure the smooth flow of water from the upper areas. We have also cleared the blocked gutters and drains before monsoon”.

Meanwhile, commuters were inconvenienced on account of the heavy downpour on Wednesday as the internal as well as the main roads in Mapusa were flooded.