The port town of Vasco is known as one of the best planned in the state of Goa. However, it doesn’t have a market with proper facilities for its fish, meat and vegetable vendors. The effect of this is apparent as vendors are constantly seen by the side of the road and on footpaths leaving citizens to face tremendous hardship only because the council that has ruled for the last five years did nothing about the market. However, the councillors did play the blame game to perfection and moaned about the lack of funds.
The town’s lone vegetable market has been built over a kilometre long stretch of road, previously used as a ring road, while its fruit vendors cram the footpath of the busy FL Gomes road. A similar situation is seen with the fish and meat market. The market assigned is dilapidated. Space constraint is also another issue. Lack of hygiene and poor traffic management compound the misery. The city fathers, however, seemed least bothered about providing necessary facilities.
“Dabolim and Mormugao constituency are located right next to Vasco and the three constituencies together house more than one lakh people, making it one of the most populated areas in Goa. The town still lacks a proper market complex with leaders only giving us doles about development and then failing to act,” said John D’Silva, a resident of Vasco. In the name of making an effort, the council realised the need for not one, but two markets – one for perishable commodities and another for small businesses from retail clothing to utensils. Consultants were even appointed for this project, but senior councillor Shekhar Khadapkar acknowledged in the last council meeting that no development was discussed.
“It is true that the council successfully pitched the issue during several meetings to apparently convince the citizens that they were concerned over the lack of market facilities. It is only due to the non-cooperation of the government and the local MLA that the project file has been biting dust in the offices. Citizens, however, are not fools and we did not see any effort from the council’s side to ensure this project becomes a reality,” said Narayan Naik, another Vasco resident.
Officially, the only thing that has happened on the issue of the market is that the Goa State Urban Development Authority (GSUDA) consultants created a virtual three floor structure on a 2000 sq mtr plot, but there was no follow up.
“It’s a known fact that the MMC has the largest expanse of land in its custody, with over Rs 10 crore as outstanding dues from all sources. But the MMC still has a crumbling retail market in the heart of the city that has been declared unsafe. There is no segregation of market usage as a result of which beef shops share space with sweet shops and cobblers share a common frontage with tours and travels operators. All of this is because of the standoff between MLA Carlos Almeida and the Council. Hence development is lost,” said Sandeep Naik, a Mormugao resident.
None of the markets have even basic facilities like sanitation, drinking water etc, which any modern town should have. Similarly, all the markets are at a high risk of blazing up due to the presence of defunct fire hydrants. Besides, a lot of vendors violate the fire and emergency rules. Also, the absence of fire extinguishers is an issue.
For the people of the port town, a new market has become only a dream. The issue has been prolonging since a decade now and people are keeping their fingers crossed in the hope that someday, someone will take the lead and accomplish the mission.
