With just a few days for Diwali, people are on a shopping spree. From malls to markets, it’s the time of the year when purchasing is at its peak, especially when the festival occurs soon after you have received your salary. However, it’s not all feel-good for all and those trying to earn a fair income by toiling hard in the markets are being overrun by migrant vendors who set their stalls by the roadside wherever they can and make hay while the sun shines.
Last year, when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that migrants come to the State and set up their crime business, every Goan felt offended by that statement as it did not resonate with the cultural ethos of ‘Atithi dēvō bhava’. However, with that sentiment in heart, Goans are at the receiving end due to the mushrooming of illegal stalls by the roadside across the State.
A ride or drive on any MDR, State Highway or National Highway will literally showcase the number of stalls by the roadside with two common factors in the majority of the cases – they all are set up by migrants and all are illegal. One wonders how these migrants have the guts to erect stalls illegally and do brisk business right under the eyes and noses of the local governance bodies and the police.
As the festival time draws closer, the number of these illegal stalls multiplies manifold. But the two factors remain the same. Be it fish, flowers, fruits, sugarcane juice or tender coconut stalls, will a Goan be allowed to erect a stall illegally and do brisk business just like the migrants do? The answer is an obvious, no.
Then how do these migrants, mostly acting like fly-by-night traders bring goods and commodities in their mini-trucks, park them by the roadside, put up their stall, carry on with their business and late in the night pack up everything and disappear? The social media is abuzz with viral videos of such illegal vendors, and the news platforms, print and electronic, have been reporting on the nuisance time and again, but to no avail.
Clearly, the village panchayat officials, municipality inspectors, panchayat members, ward councillors and the police are all turning a Nelson’s Eye to the illegalities probably for a price. Some political leaders who in the past howled about the issue, now despite being a part of the ruling dispensation have gone silent. Perhaps, these migrants have mastered the art of shutting down voices so well that even people’s representatives and their political parties have been silenced.
In the recent past, we have witnessed protests by traditional fish vendors in Margao and Vasco against the migrants selling fish by the roadside in close vicinity of the fish markets. Fruit vendors across the State have time and again brought to the notice of the government and its agencies the illegal business practices that are disturbing the local businesses. Can one imagine a Goan venturing into a town or village of any of the neighbouring States and setting shop by the roadside? The business-minded Goan will surely be given the stick and could even be lynched.
Shooting out new policies and event managing their launch has become the order of the day, as these things keep the population busy trying to figure out which policy is good or bad and how it will adversely impact or benefit them. Years ago, an idea to set up local farmers’ markets by the highways made the rounds and villagers have been eagerly waiting since then for these markets to flourish.
Goans have always welcomed people from across the globe and many have made this tiny State their home. However, it’s troublesome when fly-by-night traders and those running their businesses illegally are sheltered and protected from the law. Panchayats and municipalities usually pass orders to demolish and seal shops when a Goan does the same without receiving the needed permissions. They are right in doing so, but selective amnesia and using a different yardstick in selected cases will only lead to grudges and affect the harmonious way of life in Goa.
The State government and its agencies should ensure that the law is implemented in word and spirit without any discrimination. The unlawful favours dished out to migrant vendors could create a vicious atmosphere and test the patience of Goan vendors. It’s never too late to do the right thing and change your ways.
