Aldona Market building was declared unsafe in 2014 by a group of students of Goa Engineering College after conducting a study of the building. The students’ group had reported that the building is dangerous and not safe for the people. Despite their report concerned authorities have totally failed to act upon it and appear to be playing a blame game.
Having a full-fledged market complex is a long awaited dream of Aldonkars but it’s been years now that neither the MLA nor the other authorities have shown any concern for the lives of the people who carry out their business in and around the building as well as the lives of the people who visit this market.
Constructed in the year 1971, the almost 47 years-old building is in a very bad condition and locals fear it might collapse at any point of time. The roof has developed cracks and for the last few years, chunks of the ceiling have started peeling off. The plaster from the walls and poles has fallen down in pieces and the iron rods are now clearly visible.
The building is a ground plus first floor and has around 30 shops in and around the building. The fish vendors and vegetable vendors carry their business under the same roof. There is no separate place for the fish and vegetable vendors forcing the vendors keep their utensils in the open on the floor after their business for a particular day. With no cold storage facility and proper sitting arrangement for the fish sellers, some sit inside the building and some outside to sell the fish.
To make the situation worse there is no proper place to throw the waste water. There is no garbage facility available because of which the fish vendors throw the waste water just outside the building making the place stinky and full of stench. With no toilet facility available in the building it adds up to the unhygienic situation of the market and surroundings.
With the number of cracks on the building and peeling off of plaster, the shop owners and vendors face the problem of water leakage during the rains making it difficult for the people to walk and vendors to sit inside the building. There are around 30 shops but there is no gate for the building which is also a security concern.
After looking at the condition of the building one can say that the authorities have maintained it very poorly. Some locals even ask if they have ever carried out maintenance of this structure. Sources said that the land on which the existing market is located is partially owned by Comunidade, partially by Panchayat and partially by the shop owners due to which it’s taking time for them to come up with the final decision of going for a new market complex. What is going on now, locals say, is a blame game.
After receiving a report stating that the building is unsafe, the Panchayat had issued letters to all 30 shop owners to vacant their shops immediately for the demolition and construction of a new building but after that no further procedures were followed.
Sources said that after issuing letters to the shop owners, Panchayat had called for two meetings with the shop owners during which the Panchayat body failed to answer to the questioned raised by the locals regarding the project. During this meeting the shop owners also demanded to rehabilitate them to a new place since they completely rely on these shops for their living but authorities couldn’t find a place to rehabilitate them letting them continue in the old building.
A shop owner Alemo said, “Three years back the panchayat had sent letters to all the shop owners asking them to vacate the shops. The letters were sent without taking the shop owners into confidence. After issuing notices, Panchayat officials had several meetings and in those meetings we raised several questions regarding rehabilitation since we totally survive on these shops, however, the Panchayat members failed to answer the same”.
“During the last meeting held by the Panchayat, we told them to rehabilitate us and give the project completion date in writing but they didn’t do that. Since they told us to vacant the shops immediately we also consulted our lawyer. If we had vacated the shop immediately then right now we would have been on streets since after sending notices to shop owners no further procedure is followed to put the project in place”, said another shop owner Palni.
Another shop owner, “Neither the MLA nor any other authority is intending to come up with any possible solution. MLA wants to build a market complex at such a spot where people carrying business will not benefit since it is at some distance from the main market and doing business there is like earning nothing”.
Sarpanch of Aldona Village Panchayat Deepak Naik said, “Four years back when the students of Engineering College in their report on this building, had declared the building unsafe and beyond repair. But now after four years the technology has changed and we are looking forward to repair the building. We have already started with repair process wherein two days back the engineer inspected the building and provided a report. We will study the report decide on what to do next.”
Naik added, “We cannot reconstruct the building since the actual owner from the land who has leased the land is not issuing NOC for demolition and reconstruction. If the owner provides us with NOC, we will go for reconstruction, however, we have not yet consulted the shop owners regarding repair of building since we are waiting for the engineer’s report to confirm whether it is possible to repair the building or not”.
