Collector orders crackdown on illegal activities only in Fatorda area
Vending at the Margao Comunidade square right under the nose of the Margao Municipal Chief Officer is the order of the day in Margao. Is this vending activity legal in terms of the 1997 High Court order?
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
The 1997 High Court directions on removal of encroachments from public footpaths and pavements has come back again to haunt the authorities in the commercial capital, but for a different reason.
Giving a new twist to the High Court directions is the South Goa district Magistrate, Asvin Chandru’s order mandating the agencies to implement the High Court directions in the Fatorda area of the commercial capital, throwing up a host of questions, including the moot questions whether there are no encroachments on public spaces, pavements and footpaths in neighbouring Margao.
Even assuming that it was at the insistence of Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai that the district Collector had ordered a crackdown on illegal activities in Fatorda, questions are raised whether the High Court had given any discretion to the authorities or elected representative on the question of implementing the directions or whether the HC Court directions were to be implemented as a routine administrative function.
A little over 27 years since the High Court had issued the directions in 1997, these and other unanswered questions have come to the fore against the backdrop of the order issued by the South Goa district Magistrate to the authorities, including the Margao Municipal Council, the Food and Drugs Administration, Police and the Traffic police for help and assistance in the implementation of the High Court order.
The Collector’s directives have told authorities, including the Margao Municipal Chief Officer, FDA Director, Excise Commissioner, SP, Police and DySP Traffic to crack a whip against illegal and roadside hawker activities in Fatorda area and to set up a mechanism to ensure that the footpaths and roadsides are free from any illegalities.
Take the case of the directions issued to the MMC Chief Officer. The Chief Officer has been directed to supervise and coordinate with all the concerned departments, providing manpower and resources for executing these directions. Further, all encroachments on the footpath, along the roadside, and illegal eateries, including illegal scrapyards, shall be removed forthwith.
This has thrown up a moot question whether there are no roadside hawking activities or scrap yards in neighbouring Margao, which come under the Margao Municipal Jurisdiction.
When this question was posed to a senior official in the district Collectorate to shed light on the Collector’s order restricting the action to the Fatorda area, the official replied saying the action was demanded by the local MLA Vijai Sardesai. This has raised question whether action under the 1997 High Court directives can be implemented piecemeal only to a particular area and leaving the remaining area of the city for roadside hawking and activities.
