MARGAO
Inquiries by The Goan have revealed that Margao Municipal Chief Officer Y B Tawde had issued an order for municipal workers to crack the whip against any vending activity outside the wholesale fish market only for a period of five days, which expired on Sunday.
It is further learnt that SGPDA officials have also not made their presence felt in the market since Monday after a five-day drive.
When The Goan contacted MMC Chief Officer Y B Tawde to shed light on the situation at the wholesale fish market, he said that his order issued to the municipal workers expired on Sunday and that the order has not been renewed till date.
“I have to check up with my sub-ordinate staff whether the illegal vendors have re-surfaced at the wholesale fish market. If yes, I will have to extend the order,” Tawde said.
SGDPA Member Secretary Ashok Kumar pointed out that he is not in receipt of any information suggesting that the retail fish sale have resurfaced in the wholesale fish market.
“I will check up and verify reports on the retail fish sale in the wholesale fish market,” he said.
What’s interesting to know is that while the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai, during his visit to the wholesale fish market, had ordered a crackdown on the retail fish sale in the market, it’s still unclear why the MMC Chief Officer deemed it proper to issue an order, posting the MMC workers in the wholesale fish market, only for a period of five days.
Surprisingly, while the avowed objective behind the crackdown in the wholesale fish market is to stop the retail sale of fish in the market so that the PDA can ask the retail fish vendors in the mega market complex to sit on the platforms, there’s no corresponding action in the retail fish market till date for reasons best known to the PDA officials. “We will certainly make the retail fish vendors to vacate the passages and sit on the platforms. We will call them for a discussion on the issue,” Ashok Kumar said.
