MARGAO: Seasonal fruits and vegetables from the hilly areas of Quepem and Canacona have finally made their way in the commercial capital in a big way.
However, sadly, the promise made by successive governments to provide a make shift market for these Goan farmers still remain a pipe dream, leaving the farmers with no option but to occupy the roadsides and drains to sell their much sought after produce.
The stretch of road right opposite the Margao police station wore a colourful look with vendors from the hinterland taluka doing brisk business in the form of the juicy locally produced mesh melons and local variety of vegetables. The scene inside the old bus stand was no different. Women farmers from the hinterland villages such as Barcem, Morpilla, Balli, Khodem, etc, in Quepem taluka, were seen sitting under the shade of the huge tree at the old bus stand in the absence of a market worth its name to sell their produce.
A farmer from Morpilla village Kushali Kushavati has been coming to Margao with her locally produced fruits and vegetables since the last two decades. Says Kushavati, “In the past, the authorities had promised to provide us an accommodation in Margao to carry out our business, but in vain. They had even taken our photographs with the promise to provide us space in the proposed market,” Kushavati recalled.
Sources said the vendors are completely at the mercy of the civic and traffic police authorities due to the absence of a market of their own.
The proposal for a market for the hinterland farmers was first mooted when the exhibition of fruits and vegetables from the hilly areas was held in the city over a decade back when Margao MLA Digmabar Kamat was the State urban development minister.
