MARGAO
Farmers from the hinterland talukas of Quepem and Canacona are back once again on Margao’s drains, pavements and footpaths, selling mesh melons and a range of vegetables and fruits grown in the hilly areas of South Goa.
For more than two decades, these farmers have been promised a proper market space in a central location of the city to sell their popular produce ” a promise still not kept.
A recent meeting of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) has brought cautious hope. The Council passed a resolution to beautify and upgrade the old Margao bus stand, with a plan that includes space for these hinterland vendors. If carried out, this could ease the problems of farmers who now sell their produce from drainsides and footpaths. But many remain doubtful. “We’ve heard these promises before. Nothing has changed. We’re still on the streets,” said one vendor.
Repair work on the roadside drain near the Margao police station, funded through MLA Digambar Kamat’s constituency development fund, has given the vendors some temporary space. But the larger issue of a permanent market is still unresolved.
The question remains: when will these vendors finally get the market they were promised?
Sources in the MMC confirmed that the resolution includes space for hinterland farmers. But they admitted that the plan, to be carried out by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation, will take time.
The first such promise was made over 20 years ago, when the then Chief Minister, the late Manohar Parrikar, inaugurated an exhibition-cum-sale of produce from the hinterland talukas in Margao.
