The appeals of fish vendors at Vasco has a single tone, that of distrust against authorities. Moves to shift vendors from their existing place of operations by promising rehabilitation and then offering new premises has resulted in a standoff. On Thursday, tension rent the air as traditional fish and fruit, and vegetable vendors, refused to shift to a temporary shed, despite threats of police action and confiscation of goods.
The fact that vendors were ready for a confrontation with authorities, if the need arises, and expressed willingness to build the new market complex on their own, shows a sense of anguish and a lack of belief in the government’s promises. Their fears are compounded by the situation at GMC where kiosks were dismantled and displaced in a sudden swoop down at dawn and have not been rehabilitated as promised even after four months. These traditional businesses and food joints have been shut during a challenging Covid time, denying people their livelihoods. The worst part is, repeated assurances by Santa Cruz MLA Tony Fernandes and St Andre MLA Francis Silveira have failed, leaving the helpless vendors to fight all by themselves and even plan a chain hunger strike.
The common thread between the GMC kiosk owners and fish retailers at Vasco is that there is a complete breach of trust by the government. The fish vendors have reasons to believe that the government will leave them in the lurch just the way it has done to the kiosks at GMC. And, of course, there are even more reasons to feel insecure.
While authorities have speedily readied a temporary shed in the vicinity, it has not addressed the larger issue of clearing off unauthorised wholesalers who are doing business around the current fish market. Even if the Chief Officer of the Mormugao Municipal Council has to assure and give a written undertaking that the space will be cleared of all illegalities, history tells us that enforcement has failed, just like in Margao. Authorities at the commercial capital did manage to keep unauthorized fish sellers outside the wholesale market, but not for long. Thanks to the political undercurrents, the friction between fish sellers will continue, whether it is in Vasco or Margao.
Agreed, there is a need to build a new fish market, a requirement that has been in the pipeline for over a decade. But the urgency to rush ahead with the project on the eve of an election appears suspicious. Moreover, there is a model code of conduct looming and construction work may not even be initiated in the next four to six months. This hurry shows there’s a motive for deriving political mileage for electoral gains.
The Vasco fish vendors are inclined to think that it could be an endless wait for the new structure to take shape because other public utility projects in Vasco have been mired in controversies and not completed even after a decade of launching. The odds are heavily stacked against these fish vendors who have been doing business there for over four decades and they have reasons to feel betrayed. It remains to be seen if promises made to them are kept.
