Team Herald
PANJIM: The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) is most likely to see a dip in revenue for this year's annual Panjim feast fair as it has managed to sell only 50 per cent of its forms to vendors.
Normally, vendors who set up stalls during the feast of St Francis Xavier at Old Goa return to the capital city feast to sell their wares, but this year, it was not so because of the ongoing Exposition of the relics of St Francis Xavier which will conclude on January 5.
"The vendors stay for five days at Old Goa and then they move to Panjim. They come every year. This year we could not monetise around half of the space which is given for setting up the stalls but we were still able to collect Rs 25 lakh this year," he said.
According to a senior official of the CCP, this year only 123 vendors took forms for setting up the stalls which fetched the local body an amount of Rs 25 lakh. However, this was nearly 50 per cent lower than the revenue earned by the corporation last year.
The corporation had earned around Rs 46.91 lakh by selling forms to over 200 vendors in 2023.
The officer said, however, during the Ashtami fair held from August 26 to September 6, the CCP managed to earn a revenue of Rs 1.1 crore, which was a record.