ANIL KUMAR MISHRA
anilkumar@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The meat traders who operated from the old fish market are now worried about their future.
After the market was shut for maintenance, the fish vendors were given a temporary enclosure nearby to continue with their business uninterrupted. But no such provision was made for the meat vendors, who operated from the same market.
Now, these meat sellers, along with the labourers employed by them, are staring at an uncertain future.
The traders, who have been in the business for two to three generations, are now faced with the question as to when are they going to get relief and what was their fault that they have been treated in step-brotherly manner.
Speaking to O Heraldo, Manna Bepari, president, Quraishi Meat Traders’ Association of Goa, said, “There are around 300 persons dependent on our business. It has been more than a month that the shops have been sealed. We are paying our labourers without work. There are around 52 fish vendors while we are just 10. But in spite of that, only fish vendors have been relocated.”
“We have been in the business for three generations and functioning from the building for the last 30 years. We do not know the reason behind this treatment meted out to us. We have been paying rent and other charges on time. If there are some dues then we are ready to clear them, but we must be rehabilitated as soon as possible,” Bepari said. According to Bepari, the closure of the shops has not only affected the traders but has also affected supply of meat in the city, which has ultimately caused a shortage of three to four tonnes of beef, while three to four quintals of mutton and chicken on a daily basis.
“This translates into a loss of Rs 7 to 8 lakh per day for us,” he said.
Ashifaq M Bepari, a meat trader said, “Our family is totally dependent on the income which comes from the shop. I am paying interest on the loan which I have taken for the business. There were three staff from Karnataka who were working in my shop but they left as I was unable to pay them.”
“We fear that we will lose our regular customers as well if we are not rehabilitated immediately. The CCP should have done some arrangement before sealing our shops. We too should have been shifted the way fish vendors have been shifted,” he said.
Incidentally, the CCP had on August 21, 2024, sealed the shops to facilitate its demolition, as the building was declared unsafe last year and notices were served to the shop owners, mostly selling meat, asking them to vacate the premises.
Bento Lorena, Councillor of the CCP and chairman of the Market Committee on September 29, 2024, had said that CCP was also working to rehabilitate meat vendors, who were evicted from the dilapidated fish market. He had said that they would be relocated as soon as an alternative site is identified.