TEAM HERALD
VASCO: With the Port Town set for the Saptah on Monday, confusion prevailed over the allotment of stalls for the fair as stall owners remained adamant on their demand for a traditional space.
Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) after discussing in its meetings and adopting a resolution to streamline setting up of stalls well in advance is facing an uphill task to solve the problem of the stall owners.
Surprisingly, some councilors who were party to the resolution are now backing the stall owners who are demanding their traditional space when the council has already allotted space to other vendors.
While 18 councilors are reportedly firm on the resolution taken during the meeting to streamline setting up of the Saptah stalls, two councilors were learnt to be going against the resolution passed and are supporting the stall owners to get their demand passed.
For the last two days, the MMC building was surrounded by the stall owners. Since majority of the councilors are firm on the resolution and on the new plan, the Stall owners along with the two councilors held a meeting with the city-based industrialist Narayan Bandekar and urged him to take up the matter with rest of the councilors and Chief Officer Y B Tavde.
After Bandekar and the two councilors met Tavde and other councilors in the chief officer’s cabin, Bandekar told Herald that as he is respected in the city and since the two councilors and the stall owners sought his help he urged the councilors and the chief officer that the traditional stall owners should be allotted their old space at least this year and requested to implement the new plan from next year.
Bandekar said if the stall owners mutually agree to exchange their space then the confusion can be averted. “MMC cannot change what they have already implemented and next year the council should chalk out the Satpah arrangement at least three months in advance,” added Bandekar.
When asked the views of rest of the councilors on Bandekar’s suggestion, the councilors said whatever suggestion and decision the two councilors and Bandekar has taken is not binding on them and they will go ahead with the implementation of the new plan.
Most of the stall owners for whom space is already allotted were seen outside the council hall complaining that some other stall owners have already occupied their space and are threatening them to vacate the space.
The stall owners, whom the space is already allotted, questioned the interference of Bandekar and the two councilors when the chief officer and the council had decided about allotment of the stalls.
The aggrieved stall owners later met Krishna Salkar, who assured to give them police protection and the team of market inspectors and other staff to vacate the space occupied by others and hand it over to them.
