Margao Municipal Council soft on migrants, tough against Goan vendors?

MARGAO: It appears that the Margao municipality is going soft on migrant vendors and acting tough against Goan sellers. 

Saturday’s incident brought to the fore the civic body officials’ sheer display of arrogance and inhumane attitude against 75-year-old Nishikant Volvoikar wherein they threw his stand and the newspaper copies sold by him by the roadside behind Ravindra Bhavan junction, Fatorda. 

“They should have requested me to remove the stand from the roadside and I would have done that humbly. There was no need to throw away the newspaper copies. I earn my daily bread by selling them,” said Nishikant, a senior citizen and a resident of Fatorda.  

Nishikant said he has been selling the newspapers behind Ravindra Bhavan junction under a tree and has been earning a living by selling newspapers for the last four years. 

“On Saturday a few workers along with a market inspector warned me and they just threw away the copies of the newspapers and the small stand. I am a senior citizen and this is the only source of income for me,” said Nishikant. It was shocking to see the workers misbehaving with a ‘Goenkar’, that too, a senior citizen and a resident of Fatorda. 

It is pertinent to note that the civic body has completely failed to act against the illegal business activities in its jurisdiction. Hundreds of migrants are noticed selling goods illegally by the roadside. However, it is rare to see the municipality cracking whip on such illegal activities. 

The town residents criticised the arrogance displayed by the MMC officials against a senior citizen. 

“Why isn’t the civic body initiating action against the migrants doing illegal business all over, and mostly by the roadside? The civic body needs to stop harassing Goenkars,” they demanded. 

Feigning ignorance on the incident, MMC Chairperson Lyndon Pereira said, “MMC team had carried out a drive against illegal business activities in Fatorda, and have also seized goods.  A municipal team had also initiated action against the vendors selling goods by the roadside at the wholesale fish market.”