NESHWIN ALMEIDA
India celebrated National Fire Safety Day on April 14. This day has earmarked commencements of the Fire Safety Week awareness in Goa organised by the Directorate of Fire Emergency Services. Keeping with the fire safety theme, Herald takes a look at the eighteen kiosks or better known as gaddas in the heart of Margao city along the wall of Fatima School which has student strength of about 1,500 students. Herald also does a ground check of the twelve gaddas at the entrance of Margao city before Kadamba Bus Stand.
Also recapping the major fires that broke out in 2006, 2011 and 2014 in the new market, there seems to be no authority to check on fire safety at gaddas.
“There’s a problem of who authorises what here. We have a mandate on hotels, restaurants, shops and establishments under certain acts but gaddas run on municipality permission, with a NOC from civil supplies to use cylinders and hence we have no authority to raid,” explains Fire Safety Officer Herculano Gil.
Herculano stated that in this the Margao municipality is responsible on cracking down on these gaddas.
“The gaddas in Margao are all having illegalities from encroachments to manipulating ownership or even not having proper permissions and approvals. But until I have a proper hawkers and vendors policy for the Margao jurisdiction and unless we identify land to rehabilitate them, there’s little I can do in this matter,” said Dr Babita Prabhudessai, MMC Chairperson.
But Julio Fernandes and many others refuse to buy this argument of the chairperson and point out an instance wherein the gadda owners have now started parking their commercial supply vehicles near their shops and besides the Fatima Convent back gate thereby creating a fire safety hazard by not allowing free excess for a fire engine in cash of a fire.
“These gaddas that earlier sold only stationary to students now sell gutka, pan, cigarettes, cooked food, cooked tea, newspapers, eatables and many more perishables but none of these 16 gaddas have even a fire extinguisher,” he said.
