the goan I network
MAPUSA
Amid some anxious moments, the two-hour protest of Mapusa Merchants Association (MMA) in the municipal market passed off peacefully on Friday, but the agitated shopkeepers vowed to come back and evict the illegal migrant vendors until the civic body implements the Street Vendors Protection Act
and constitutes the town vending committee (TVC) for Mapusa town.
“We are ready to take law into our hands until the civic body constitutes the TVC and implements the Street Vendors Protection Act. We will maintain our drive to evict illegal migrant vendors from the market. We may repeat the exercise this Sunday…,” said Ashish Shirodkar, MMA President.
“We have displayed our unity by keeping all our shops closed for two hours. We will not stop at this. If in eight days no action is taken on setting up of the TVC for Mapusa, we will repeat our action with double the vengeance,” he added.
Almost 90 percent of the shopkeepers downed their shutters for two hours in solidarity with the Mapusa merchants against the migrant vendors occupying illegal space in the municipal market.
At least 100 odd shopkeepers led by MMA’s Shirodkar, Naresh Tivrekar, Asis Cordozo, Pandurang Sawant and Geetesh Dangui assembled at the entrance of the municipal market at around 9 am and later marched through the market urging “illegal” vendors to remove their goods.
The shopkeepers received support from various other groups and social organizations in town.
Except for a couple of instances when the agitated shopkeepers ripped off parcels belonging to the migrant vendors and threatened them to move out, much of the two-hour drive passed off peacefully.
Many of the migrant vendors along the J K Wines lane did not open their counters fearing that their goods would be confiscated.
The MMA chief said that if the civic body tries vindictive tricks against its members then the entire community will come out in one force. “If the Mapusa council tries to take action against any of our members, we will not stay quiet, but come out with full force,” Shirodkar warned.
Although the shopkeepers expressed their ire against migrant vendors, they ignored improprieties carried out by local vendors.
Targeting the council and the city fathers for pandering to migrant vendors, members of the MMA said that the vendors were encouraged by the councillors. “The MMC has no plan to put things in order in the municipal market. We have 20 councillors but none have the courage to speak up against the mess created by the migrant vendors,” said Naresh Tivrekar, Vice-President of MMA.
Protest a political stunt: MMC chief
MAPUSA: Hitting back at the Mapusa market merchants, Mapusa Municipal Council Chairperson Ryan Braganza said the protest of the shopkeepers was politically motivated, as the council had already taken steps to formulate the Town Vending Committee (TVC).
“It’s obvious that the protest is a political stunt. I had given a commitment to the shopkeepers that the council had taken steps to constitute the TVC and within a short time it would be notified,” Braganza said.
The chairperson said that the issue of migrant vendors has been going on for the last so many years and his council was trying to bring some discipline in the market.
“We have just started removing all goods stored overnight on the roads by the vendors. It’s a big market and with the resources and workforce at our disposal we are doing our best,” he said.
“When we were planning to take action one at a time to restore order in the market, the merchants have started blowing their trumpet,” he added.
