The burnt goods which were destroyed in a fire in March should have been cleared a long time ago, but visit one portion of the Canacona Municipal market and be prepared to find ashes and other destroyed items still lying at the site.
While the Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) is being accused of deliberately allowing the burnt goods to remain in one section of the market building, the CMC has, instead, pointed fingers at an “unresponsive” PWD for delaying its report on ascertaining the safety of the building.
It was on the midnight of March 11 that a fire engulfed the CMC’s market building which housed various vendors of cosmetics, readymade garments, chappals, flower shops on one side and vegetable/fruit vendors on the other side at a busy location at Chaudi.
Everything in the twin ground floor blocks was destroyed, with the entire stock of costly goods on the right hand side of the building being razed to ashes. The entire lot of vegetables, fruits and flower was destroyed, causing a loss of over Rs 85 lakh to about 34 vendors who were, till then, doing brisk business.
At the time, there was widespread hue and cry amid demands to immediately rehabilitate and compensate the 34-odd vendors, who had suffered considerable losses due to the fire mishap.
But as the Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections was in force at the time, not much moved for the affected vendors, as even top political guns refrained from even visiting the fire affected vendors, let alone announcing even a nominal compensation.
Amid demands by vendors to rehabilitate them elsewhere, the CMC was already caught up in the Ruby Residency tragedy and to make matters worse, some of CMC’s key officials were in the dock and were being chased by investigating authorities. As a result, the CMC did not accord much attention to the market fire mishap.
Then, the CMC’s offer to temporarily rehabilitate the vendors behind its own administrative building in the open was, however, turned down by the affected vendors.
The affected vendors wanted to resume their activities in the burnt building, a demand which was flatly rejected by the civic authorities, considering the safety of the burnt building.
Over a period of time, one block of the market building which suffered minor damage in the fire was reoccupied by the same vegetable and flower vendors, after they cleared and shifted the burnt goods to another portion of the building.
As the demands for proper rehabilitation of vendors grew louder, the CMC shot off a letter to the PWD to examine the burnt building and to submit a report on whether the structure was safe for occupation.
While former CMC chairperson Ajay Bhagat said the report is still awaited, CMC Chairperson Simon Rebello added: “Only recently, a reminder was sent to PWD to submit a fitness report, so that the CMC is in a position to take a final stand, whether building can be occupied or if it has to be demolished, if found unsafe. But everything depends on the PWD’s report, which incidentally continues to be unresponsive.”
According to one CMC official, only a few vendors, who were prompt in paying the vendors’ fees to the CMC, are reported to have been provided with a nominal compensation for their destroyed goods from the CMC coffers.
“The CMC has preferred to keep one of the razed blocks of the market unattended to prevent vendors from forcibly reoccupying the area, ignoring a clear-cut warning to stay away from the unsafe portion of the burnt building,” said the CMC official.
“There was yet another angle to keep the affected vendors away from the damaged portion of the municipal market. Although the plots in the municipal market were allotted, they were sublet and other beneficiaries were doing business in these plots,” said the official.
“There were also allegations that the CMC had not gained anything from some of these vendors. Except for a few, all other vendors were illegally carrying the trade by occupying spots/plots in municipal’s market building by not paying any sopo fees to CMC for the last many years,” the official added.
