PONDA: A portion of the concrete slab of the ceiling of Ponda's busy fish market fell early Tuesday morning. The beams of the fish market too are rusted and iron rods exposed on both ground and first floor of the building which is in a pathetic condition.
The fish vendors have demanded that before the market collapses, they should be shifted to a safer place.
Fish vendors and customers were lucky that the incident happened at night. Thousands of fish lovers visit the Ponda fish market on a daily basis. The incident also exposed the probable danger posed to cloth merchants on the first floor of the market.
The vendors selling fish on ground floor and cloth vendors located on the first floor expressed great concern over the pathetic condition of this 34-year- old fish market.
Garu Sawant president of Amchi Vyapari Sangatana (Vendors Association) said that the PMC should immediately shift the vendors to a safer place and start the construction of the proposed New Palika Bazaar construction. He said this is a wake up call for PMC to shift vendors including fish and cloth vendors to a safer place.
Following the incident, PMC Chairperson Ritesh Naik along with Chief Officer and engineer inspected the fish market and heard the grievances of fish vendors. He said experts would conduct stability test of this building and assured to shift the vendors in a planned manner. The new Palika Bazaar will be constructed by demolishing the old sheds in the market including fish market.