PANAJI
While it does earn the civic body significant revenue and provides a shopping option ahead of Chaturthi, the Ashtami fair in Panaji has also earned the ire of local residents who allege it smears the city’s riverine aesthetics and also gives rise to chaos and a sanitation nightmare.
The Corporation of the City of Panaji has set up over 400 stalls along the footpath stretching from the Panaji-Betim ferry point right up to the Forest Department’s office adjacent to the Kala Academy.
Some residents who live in the city said the fair has completely blocked from view the Mandovi River and the serene, and green scenery of the Betim-Reis Magos hillock on the other side.
They also claimed that the authorities have provided only two toilet facilities which is insufficient to cater to the hundreds of vendors, many of who they allege have been defecating in the open, along the river banks.
Additionally, the large movement of people at the fair impedes the traffic flow along the DB Marg and traffic jams are a common sight.
Early on Saturday too, the fair was hit by a major accident when a private bus whose driver lost control rammed into one of the stalls opposite the ESG complex.
Three persons were injured and a motorcycle was also crushed in the accident which added to the confusion and disorder experienced by vendors and fair-goers, due to haphazard placement of stalls.
Meanwhile, a top CCP official said they are doing their best to clear waste produced at the fair at regular intervals through the day. The official however did not comment on why only two toilet facilities were arranged
when there were hundreds of vendors and a larger number of fair-goers visiting every day.
Last year, the CCP had netted in over Rs one-crore beating the record of the Mormugao Municipal Council’s revenue figures for the famous Saptah fair in the port town.
