Obviously, everything is not well in the Mapusa market. On Saturday morning the municipality launched a drive to clear footpaths of encroachments but effort was brought to a halt within minutes by members of the Mapusa Merchants Association who were not willing to give up ground. While encroachments on the footpath cannot be condoned, the merchants have a point. They told the chairperson, Rohan Kavelakar to first evict vendors who had encroached on the internal roads before attempting to penalise them. Merchants pointed out that vendors arrive with their goods after 5.30 pm when municipal staff goes off duty. Of course two wrongs do not make a right, but the municipality needs to get rid of the vendors who occupy the roads before taking the battle to the merchants. Keeping the internal roads and footpaths free of encroachments are two sides of the coin and the any municipality that attempts to clear one while leaving the other untouched is bound to draw criticism and even allegations of favouritism and corruption. A market free of encroachments and with open roads will bring in more business, but for this to happen the association and municipality must work in tandem and the goal must be clear and achievable.
