Civic authorities pull down their shutters at 6pm and through the weekend, illegalities flourish after dark
A gadda owner walks into his eaterie at 5pm and opens forbusiness. The roads are relatively empty. It’s Sunday and he doesn’t mindflouting the rules. According to municipality laws, gaddas can’t be open before6.30.
Quepem: It’s just past 7pm and chaos reigns in the marketarea. The traffic situation is a mess and heavy vehicles ignore the signboardsthat stress on entry and exit times.
Mapusa: The market area has gates that are never closed andtimings that are never followed. Bikes and little rickshaws traverse thepedestrian walkways. The once proud market, one of the first to be built inGoa, is now just a maze of encroached footpaths and illegal stalls.
Chaos after 5pm daily and on the weekends, once the civicauthorities close shop is not new and not restricted to just a few locations inGoa. The rules are flouted everywhere and the apathy by the municipalities andthe panchayats is appalling.
The municipality employees work from 9am to 5pm. No civicstaff work beyond 6 in the evening and the municipality is closed during theweekend.
So, the question remains, as civic authorities work 45 hourweeks, what happens during the rest of the 333 hours in the week? Do people getaway with flouting the rules? Currently, that would be a resounding YES.
“Many illegalities take place in the night and on Sundayswhen the municipality is shut and cannot issue stop orders. The municipalitymust have a mobile squad to check on these illegalities,” said Jose MariaMiranda, a Salcete-based activist.
Anil Shirodkar, of the Margao Municipal Council claims thatwhile the MMC manages to pull up defaulters, they too have their limitations.“We are unable to look into complaints of illegalities after 6pm,” he stateshelplessly.
It is after dusk that gaddas are reborn as concretestructures and shanties get a brick and mortar foundation. A restaurant’ssewage ‘flows’ into storm water drains, and its garbage is emptied into roadsidebins in the night. Therefore, no garbagecollection tax is paid.
There is a provision in the municipality act to employ staffduring the weekend and to work late at nights but the civic bodies around thestate are yet wake up to reality. The reality being that if businesses andother establishments continue to function past normal working hours, thensolutions have to found out.
“Every local body has the right to appoint teams and decidehow to appoint their staff to check illegalities round the clock. In case thereis no authority to approach beyond working hours, the municipality isresponsible for the violation or illegality,” pointed Directorate of MunicipalAdministration chairman, Sandip Jacques.
The Urban Development Minister concurs with the DMA. “Everymunicipality can have its own provisions to check violations and makeprovisions to have people working overtime,” said Urban Development Minister,Francis D’Souza.
Until the municipalities and work shifts to curbillegalities around the clock, provisions in the municipality act and othersuch norms are just words. And words don’t mean much unless backed up byproactive efforts.
