Stakeholders get preview of facilities as traders move in during tarring work at open area; questions persist over retail trade
Platforms in the redeveloped Margao wholesale fish market put to use for the first time since the completion of the construction in January 2025. (Right) However, retail fish sale continued in the redeveloped complex.
MARGAO
Fish traders and vendors visiting the Margao wholesale fish market over the last two days were greeted by an unexpected sight.
Even as stakeholders continue to wait the formal commissioning of the redeveloped wholesale fish market by the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA), fish trading activity has suddenly sprung up inside the newly developed market complex.
Visitors were surprised to find fish-laden vehicles parked within the redeveloped market premises, with vendors conducting business from the platforms constructed as part of the redevelopment project. For many, it appeared to be the first time that the facilities, ready since January 2025, were being put to use.
Alongside the fish trucks, vendors selling shellfish and fish stored in boxes also moved into the redeveloped complex. Scores of migrant fish vendors continued their daily trade from the platform located on the western side of the market.
As traders and visitors tried to make sense of the sudden shift, it became clear that the SGPDA had temporarily relocated fish-laden vehicles into the new market complex to facilitate the tarring of the open trading area. For years, fish trading activities had been carried out in this open space amid muddy conditions and foul odours.
The temporary arrangement has offered a glimpse of how trading operations could function within the redeveloped facility, even as stakeholders await its official inauguration and full-scale operation.
A host of questions, however, remains unanswered – Will the SGPDA restrict the fish trade to wholesale as is the avowed objective of the market or will it continue to allow sale of fish in retail by scores of migrant vendors in the redeveloped market as well?
While fish traders are mandated to sell fish in wholesale, many traders continue to sell in retail right under the nose of the authorities.
Fish trade temporarily shifted to facilitate tarring work: PDA chief
Tarring work underway in the open area adjoining the redeveloped market building.
MARGAO: South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) Chairman and Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar has said that the Planning Authority has not yet shifted wholesale fish market operations to the redeveloped market complex.
Speaking to The Goan, Salkar said the wholesale fish traders and vendors have been moved into the redeveloped market only on a temporary basis to facilitate tarring work in the open market area. “This is just a temporary shifting done to facilitate tarring of the open area,” Salkar said.
When asked whether traders and vendors would be moved back to the open area once the tarring work is completed, Salkar said the SGPDA would shortly convene a meeting to take a decision on the matter.
He further stated that the redeveloped wholesale fish market would be formally inaugurated only after the return of PWD Minister and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to Goa.
“We will inaugurate the redeveloped wholesale fish market after the return of the PWD Minister,” Salkar added.
Sopo tender process status unclear
Fish cutting activity in the wholesale fish market in a stinking environment.
Meanwhile, the SGPDA Chairman said he had sought an update from the Authority’s Member Secretary on whether the online tender for the collection of wholesale market fees, commonly known as sopo fees, had been uploaded.
While the status of the tender process remains unclear, it is evident that the SGPDA is yet to appoint a sopo contractor for fee collection. The last attempt to award the contract dates back to 2023, when the Authority floated a tender that was subsequently scrapped midway owing to objections over certain clauses in the tender document.
One of the most contentious conditions required bidders to possess at least 10 years of experience in the fishing business — a stipulation many stakeholders argued had little relevance to the collection of market fees.
Following the controversy, the Town and Country Planning Department agreed to delete the clause and pave the way for the SGPDA in December 2023 to issue a fresh tender. However, more than two years later, the Authority has neither floated a new tender nor appointed a contractor to collect sopo fees.
The delay has raised questions over the prolonged inaction by the SGPDA leadership, including the Chairman, Member Secretary, and the Authority’s members, among them the MLAs representing Margao, Fatorda and Curtorim.
