MAPUSA
With elections approaching, pressure is mounting on Mapusa MLA and Deputy Speaker Joshua D’Souza to deliver on the long-pending lease renewal and arrears issue affecting traders in the municipal market, as repeated government assurances have yet to translate into a resolution.
In the latest push, D’Souza arranged a meeting with Urban Development Minister Vishwajit Rane on Monday following a request from the Mapusa Merchants Association (MMA). Rane assured the traders that a resolution was expected to be pursued, with D’Souza indicating that a final decision could come within four days.
But after taking the issue repeatedly to the highest levels of government, including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, traders are waiting to see whether this assurance will finally end years of uncertainty over lease renewals for old shops and the increased arrears being demanded from them.
MMA secretary Siddesh Raut struck a pointed note on the electoral implications, saying the party would have to take the traders’ demands seriously.
“We are over 1,000 traders and their families in Mapusa. We have a substantial vote share in Mapusa. We are also opinion makers. So the party has to think hard about the demands we have put forward,” Raut told The Goan.
The remark comes as the BJP faces a politically significant period ahead of the Assembly and municipal elections, with D’Souza also facing competition from several aspirants for the party ticket in Mapusa. A resolution to the traders’ grievances could therefore become an important test of the MLA’s ability to secure a long-pending demand from a sizeable section of the town’s business community.
Raut acknowledged that the issue had remained unresolved despite several assurances but said the traders were hopeful this time because they had approached the “right person”. As Urban Development Minister, Rane oversees urban local bodies and is familiar with the matter, he said.
According to the MMA, Rane agreed that PWD rates should not be applied to existing old shops and assured the traders that a meeting with the concerned officials would be held in the coming days.
For the traders, however, the real test will be whether the latest promise produces a concrete decision before the elections or becomes another assurance added to a long list of unfulfilled commitments.
