PANJIM: The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) will sell forms to the vendors on Tuesday morning to put up stalls for the annual Ashtami fair which will be held along the promenade at Campal-Panjim from September 6 to 17.
The Corporation has said that preference will be given to traditional vendors.
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A senior official at the CCP informed that it has been decided to allow as many as 410 stalls for the 12-day-long Ashtami fair.
“Of these, 410, a total of 110 forms will be given to carpenters and traditional furniture stall owners. As per the decision taken by the CCP’s standing committee, forms will be sold at Rs 500 each. Vendors will be charged Rs 250 per square metre per day and
Rs 200 will also be charged as sanitisation fees,” the senior official said.
CCP Mayor Rohit Monserrate, interacting with media persons said that the Corporation will give preference to traditional vendors.
“Forms for the Ashtami fair will be offered on a first-come-first-serve basis while priority will be given to traditional vendors. The entire process will be transparent and streamlined so that we don’t face any unnecessary issues. The stalls will be put up along the promenade from Panjim ferry wharf upto Kala Academy,” Monserrate said.
A large number of vendors had gathered outside the CCP to buy forms on Monday morning and they stayed till evening hoping that the forms would be up for grabs. The situation turned chaotic after they were informed that the forms will be sold on Tuesday. Police were called to disperse the crowd.
“We have been told by some people in the CCP that forms may be distributed today itself, so we have been sitting here since morning. On onc occasion in the past , the CCP had asked us to come the next day but the forms were distributed the very same day and we lost an opportunity. So, we don’t wish to take any risk this year,” one of the vendors who deals in toys said.
It is pertinent to note that in 2022 there were allegations by a section of vendors that some councillors had taken forms to sell it to vendors, who also had charged that a husband of a woman councillor was selling forms at exorbitant price between Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 per form. An inquiry into the said allegations were initiated by the then CCP Commissioner Agnelo Fernandes, however, till date nobody know about the outcome of the inquiry.
