It was around dawn on Sunday. A group of youngsters were huddled together around a passage on the busy station road. A young man in his 30s was apparently trying to strike a deal with prospective customers, but on seeing scribes around, made good his escape. A little further down the lane towards the Gandhi Market, were vendors occupying the road sides with second hand goods and clothes for sale. It all pointed to the fact that Margao’s notorious Chor Bazaar is slowly but steadily raising its ugly head on the station road right under the watchful eyes of the Margao Police and the Municipal authorities.
If the station road was the centre of the bustling Chor Bazaar a couple of years ago before a clamp down following public outcry, the notorious bazaar is now back doing business in the early hours on Sundays.
Local residents and traders on the station road said that the vendors assemble along the road as early as 5 am and wind up the business shortly after dawn.
In fact, before the police crackdown on the activity a couple of years ago, the station road was famous for the infamous Sunday Chor Bazaar. Patronised mostly by the migrants with patronage from the Margao police, the Chor Bazaar had acquired notoriety as one would often find stolen property up for sale in the market. So much so, that the Goa Police would make its presence at the Chor Bazaar no sooner a theft or burglary was reported in the Margao Police Sub-Division.
A senior police officer conceded that many stolen items had found their way to the Chor Bazaar for sale in the past. If sources are to be believed, the Chor Bazaar had a successful run in the past.
That the Chor Bazaar is slowly making a comeback along the station road has raised concern amongst the locals and traders alike.
“Unlike the past, Chor Bazaar has started on a small scale. May be this is just the beginning. Hope the Margao police have taken cognisance of the bazaar,” said a resident.
Another local resident Tulsidas Nerulkar echoed similar sentiments. He said that migrants doing brisk business all along the station road is now an open secret especially on early Sunday morning. “We have still not seen the police making their presence felt to keep the vendors at bay,” he added.
Freedom Fighter Gurunath Kelekar, who stays at Malbhat, says the authorities should immediately nip the activity in the bud. “When it is a fact that stolen goods are being sold in the Chor Bazaar, the authorities should clamp down on the activity before it resurfaces with menacing proportions,” Kelekar said.
When Herald drew attention of Margao Police Station in charge, PI Sudesh Naik, to the illegal activity, he went into a denial mode, but assured to crack a whip if the activity has resurfaced on the station road. “So far, the activity has not come to the notice of the police. We had stopped it in the past and will not allow it to resurface again,” PI Naik asserted.
