Team Herald
MAPUSA: The Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) has been turning a blind eye to the encroachments on roads by vendors as well as to the mushrooming illegal handcarts causing traffic congestion in the town.
When questioned as to why they have not acted on these illegalities, the municipal officials said that they needed time to deal with these illegalities
Last year around this time, the MMC had confiscated 30 handcarts in drive against vendors encroaching on roads and blocking traffic in Mapusa. However, the vendors have reoccupied the areas from where they were cleared off last year.
As the stand, the Mapusa city roads are quite narrow and the encroachments by vendors and handcarts make them narrower. Even the parking places are occupied by the handcarts operating without permission.
“No leniency should be shown to anyone who is operating without permission or creating congestion in the market. We want to do away with illegal operation of vendors in Mapusa market and for this we have to be strict or things will become worse,” said a municipal official.
Councillor and Municipal Market Committee Member Franky Carvalho said that the municipality was dealing with the illegalities in the market step by step.
“Along with the Municipal Market Inspector we have to go around and check for licences. Last month, notices were sent to many cart vendors to renew their licenses but only around 12 have renewed which shows that most of them are operating illegally. Handcart vendors selling tender coconuts and bananas are not allowed to do so. The job of the municipality is to rectify the problem and check who is having a licence and act against those operating illegally,” Franky said.
“We are not going to shield anyone but take action against violators. Just because someone is a migrant but having a valid license we cannot push them out,” he added.
The Revolutionary Goans, a social activist group, recently submitted a letter to the Mapusa Police Station demanding removal of vendors who are carrying out illegal business in Mapusa. They alleged that most of the vendors doing business in Mapusa are migrants and are shielded by the MMC. The Mapusa Police immediately acted on this complaint and cleared many vendors who were operating illegally.
