SANGUEM: The otherwise dull market in Sanguem, springs into life every Wednesday with large number of people visiting the place to purchase their daily requirements.
On Wednesdays, a large number of vendors and hawkers put up their temporary stalls in the Sanguem market in the morning session. By afternoon, the stalls are closed and the hawkers call it a day. But during the half-a-day long market, the hawkers make brisk business with people who travel from remote villages make their weekly purchases.
The items sold at the weekly market come at a far lesser price; and people, particularly those hailing from remote areas, prefer buying their requirements at the Wednesday market rather than buying them from the regular market.
Ironically, the Wednesday market which commenced in Sanguem about a year ago was initially started by the side of main road proceeding to Bhati. However, given the dangerous location, the authorities directed the hawkers to shift on the interior lane of the Sanguem market opposite to the Sanguem Municipality Office and the Electricity Department.
But shifting to the interior lane has not proved to be much safer for the hawkers and the people. The lane which is about 6-metre wide is occupied by hawkers on both sides of the road with little space being left for the shoppers to move towards the stalls.
To make matters worse, the lane which is otherwise occupied by the hawkers is also kept open for vehicular traffic. The movement of vehicles during the shopping hours makes it much difficult for the shoppers to shop safely, particularly to those who bring their children along.
The people visiting the Wednesday market have appealed to the authorities to temporarily close the lane used by the hawkers during the morning session to avoid accidents.
“Temporarily closing the lane will neither affect anybody, nor will anybody be put to hardship. On the contrary the move will be more beneficial for the people visiting the Wednesday market,” said a hawker. “This could be easily done by putting temporary barricades on either side of the lane presently allocated to the hawkers to sell their wares,” said another.
