Team Herald
VASCO: Vasco market fisherwomen on Tuesday confronted the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) councillor Fredrick Henriques over the sale of fish by some vendors by the roadside, which they had an issue with and say is illegal. Earlier in the day, the councillor and the MMC engineer carried out an inspection of a possible site to build a temporary shed to shift the fish vendors once the new fish market works starts.
Speaking to the Herald, the councillor said, “Yesterday there was a joint meeting undertaken by Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida at the Deputy Collector’s office. There was a discussion between the retail fish vendors and the local authorities concerned. The work to build a new fish market will commence shortly and therefore MMC don’t want these retail fish vendors to be displaced as the construction work might take around a year.”
Furthermore, Henriques mentioned that keeping this in mind, they had decided to give them an alternate arrangement in form of a temporary shed, which will be erected and these vendors will be shifted temporarily in this place until the market construction is completed. “Therefore on Tuesday afternoon, I along with a municipal engineer had come to inspect a site whether a temporary shed could be erected. There are some formalities which we will have to follow, the engineer will see whether it is feasible to erect a shed at this site near the fish market and the report will be submitted. So far a place has not been finalised and we are working on it” he added.
When asked to comment about the discussion that took place between the retail fish vendors and him, he said that the authorities had on Monday assured them that MMC will act tough and stop people from selling fish on the road illegally. We have asked for three days’ time and the police and the MMC inspectors are already working on it,” said Henriques
Meanwhile, some fisherwomen from the Vasco fishmarket complained that the MMC is like a paper tiger given that their assurances have not been fulfilled.
“MMC had promised that from Tuesday, no illegal vendor will be allowed to sell fish, fruits at the roadside illegally but people have ignored the warning of MMC and continue to do illegal business, “they alleged.
The fisherwomen have warned the authorities that if within three days time, the situation doesn’t change, then they will tackle this issue their own way.
