PANJIM: Walls covered in grime and paan stains and heaps of garbage piled in every corner, the new municipal market in Panjim is a shameful picture of neglect and poor civic sense.
When Team Herald visited the market on Tuesday, rotting fruits, vegetables and dry waste were seen strewn around, surrounded by swarms of flies, giving the market an unsanitary look.
Supposedly maintained by the Corporation of the City of Panaji, the market is also frequented by international cruise tourists, who visit to experience the sights and smells of a local market, photograph the colourful produce and famous murals by artist Mario Miranda that adorn the now-filthy walls.
The dark basement parking area is not properly cleaned, and channels of dirty water can be seen sullying the floor, with assorted wet garbage accumulated on one side, posing a health hazard to visitors.
“The market chairman, Commissioner and Mayor of the Corporation of the City of Panaji are responsible for the disorder in the market. They should at least have some control over the people who are entrusted with the responsibility to maintain cleanliness in the market,” said senior CCP councillor Surendra Furtado.
Councillor Uday Madkaikar said that the pathetic condition of the market is due to poor supervision and monitoring. “Ensuring cleanliness in the market complex is the responsibility of the CCP. There is no accountability for anything; there has to be a system in place to keep a check in the market,” Madkaikar said.
CCP Mayor Rohit Monserrate claimed that the garbage is collected by the CCP workers in a timely manner.
“You can see paan stained walls in the market complex because some people lack civic sense. We penalise them but we don’t see any behavioural change. You can’t blame CCP for this,” Monserrate said.
He added that he will get the basement parking facility cleaned as soon as possible. CCP Commissioner Agnelo Fernandes said that the garbage never gets accumulated in the market.
Councillor Bento Lorena, who is the chairman of the market committee, said that there is a shortage of manpower that is hampering the cleanliness work.
“I have already discussed the cleanliness issue with the Mayor; shortage of labour is a major issue. We need more labourers to ensure cleanliness throughout the day in the market. We also need full time supervisors to monitor the work,” Lorena said.
The traders in the market did not wish to comment.
Maintaining cleanliness of public spaces like markets is everyone’s responsibility. Citizens should behave responsibly, market vendors should dispose of their trash at designated places and the CCP should ensure that garbage is picked up thrice in a day,” said Sonali Naik, a resident of Panjim.
