Mormugao Chairperson says vendors were misguided
VASCO
The Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) on Friday morning carried out a joint inspection of the newly constructed Vasco fish market along with the vendors who seemed upset about the seating arrangements and the toilet facility in the new market complex.
After the inspection, MMC Chairperson Girish Borker said some fish vendors were misguided while social activist Custodio D’Souza requested the MMC to have an additional toilet for the vendors.
Custodio D’Souza, however, maintained that vendors had been taken into confidence prior to taking up the construction of the new fish market.
“We were informed that the new market would be built as per our requirements and we were also given two options of Panaji and Mapusa fish markets to decide on the seating arrangement for all the vendors here,” said D’Souza.
“We had suggested that we need seating arrangements for around 250 vendors but the vendors feel that the seating arrangement adopted here is not up to the mark. While the market construction is good, it lacks proper seating arrangement for vendors and we have asked the municipal engineer to ensure that the seating arrangement is improved.”
“There has to be space for vendors and customers to move in the market to avoid congestion. We have said that this seating arrangement cannot be changed after the project is completed and needs to be done immediately,” said D’Souza.
D’Souza also demanded an additional toilet for fish vendors in the new market.
“Washrooms are very important for any fish market, especially when we have women fish vendors and we had demanded that a washroom be constructed on the ground floor which would be used by fish vendors. The toilet is constructed on the first floor and this will be a major issue in case the lift of the building breaks down.”
“We have seen that lifts of many government buildings have broken down and they have not been repaired it till date. Vendors fear that they will have to face inconvenience in such a situation, especially because some vendors cannot climb stairs. We have now demanded an additional washroom be built on the ground floor for the convenience of fish vendors,” said D’Souza.
MMC Chairperson Girish Borker said the confusion among the vendors had been cleared after the inspection and he announced that the new market would be ready by April end.
“The seating arrangements have been taken as per their needs and only after they have agreed to the Panaji Market model,” said Borker.
