A day after attack on journo, illegal hawkers do the disappearing act

the goan I networkrMARGAO rrThe illegal vendors, who occupy the footpath at the Comunidade square, right under the nose of the Margao police and municipal authorities, were conspicuous by their absence as the men-in-uniform and the municipal workers made their presence at the square on Wednesday evening. rEarlier in the morning, the district collector told a delegation of journalists that the municipality will initiate stern action against the encroachments at the Comunidade square. He attributed the encroachments to the system prevailing in the civic body, wherein there’s staff around to reign in on the encroachments after office hours. To overcome the situation, the Collector said that he has decided to put a system in place, wherein duties of the municipal workers will be staggered to ensure that the team will continue to patrol the Comunidade square even after duty hours. “Let us see how the system of staggered timings of municipal workers works. We can make the necessary changes in due course so that the system achieves the desired objective,” Naik said. rThe delegation of journalists demanded stern action against the accused persons and an end to the encroachments on the footpaths.