Bandh leaves Margao deserted

Bandh leaves Margao deserted
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JULY 5
Trade and commerce came to a complete halt in the commercial capital on Monday in support of the Bharat bandh, even as the police arrested two persons for stoning a Curchorem-bound KTC bus at Sao Jose de Areal village this evening.
Margao’s major markets – the New Market and the Gandhi market – wore a deserted look as the shops and business establishments down shutters voluntarily today. The hustle and bustle at the KTC bus stand and the old bus stand in front of the Margao police head quarters went missing. There was not much activity in SGPDA’s mega market, including the fish market.
Though a fleet of KTC buses were found stationed at the KTC stand, private buses were completely stayed off the road in support of the bandh call.
Educational institutions in the city reported thin attendance in the morning, prompting many a management to shut the institutions for the day.
Government offices in the city also reported poor attendance, thus affecting official work throughout Monday.
Led by MLA Damu Naik and Rupesh Mahatme, the BJP took out mrocha in the city in the morning to enforce the bandh. The police had to intervene near the Margao Residence as the activists attempted to close down the establishments in and around the place.
DySP Umesh Gaonkar and other police officials intervened to bring the situation. The morcha later wend its way through the city in both Margao and Fatorda.
Meanwhile, the police took into custody two youths from the Housing Board area for stoning a Curchorem-bound KTC bus. The police said the duo Anand Damodar Naik (16) and Pritesh Bikaji Godkar (21) were arrested by the police.
Meanwhile, the President of the Margao unit of the BJP, Chandan Nayak has thanked the people of Margao, besides the owners of shops and business establishments for voluntarily closing their establishments in support of the bandh call.
The Margao police made elaborate arrangements across the city as a precautionary measure. Pickets were set up at the New Market and the Gandhi market and at the KTC and old bus stand to keep the miscreants at bay.
Meanwhile, Fatorda MLA and BJP spokesman Damu Naik has congratulated the people for the total bandh in Margao and Fatorda and warned that the Governments both at the Centre and in Goa to read the writing on the wall of the people’s discontent with their policies.
He thanked the merchants of the New Market for voluntarily keeping their shutters down and also all the vendors and hawkers in the different markets of Margao including the SGPDA market at Old Market. He also thanked the private bus operators for staying off the roads. “I would like to thank everybody and specially the fish vendors who closed shop today in response to the call for a bandh given by us,” he said adding that the people of Goa should also be complimented for bearing up with the inconvenience for one day. “The very fact that vendors, hawkers and the trading class voluntarily kept their shutters down and that people did not protest or object to the bandh proves that the aam admi is totally discontented with the Congress policies and realising that the Congress is only paying lip service to their causes,” he said.
Naik announced that if the ‘unjust’ hike in petroleum prices is not rolled back immediately, his party would intensify its agitation and added that going by the response the bandh evoked today, the masses would willingly support them.
Meanwhile, former MMC Chairperson Johnson Fernandes said the people has fully supported the bandh because the government has failed to protect the interest of the common man. “This is not the Aam Aadmi sarkar. The prices of petroleum products have been hike, thus depriving the daily bread of  the common man”, he added.