MAPUSA
In a bid to put pressure on the Mapusa civic body, the Mapusa Merchants’ Association (MMA) on Friday accused the chief officer of Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) of criminal negligence which has given rise to illegalities in the municipal market and asked Mapusa police to lodge an FIR against the CO.
“For past three years, we have been consistently pursuing with the chief office to constitute the Town Vending Committee for Mapusa, which he is bound to under the Street Vendors Protection Act of 2014,” said MMA President Ashish Shirodkar, in a complaint to the Mapusa Police.
He said despite several written petitions and personal visits in the MMC, the chief officer had failed to take action and constitute the committee.
“This inaction of the chief officer amounts to gross negligence of his duty which has resulted in chaos and total breakdown of civic machinery in the market resulting in frequent confrontations between the vendors and shopkeepers,” he said.
The MMA chief said that rising incidents of chain snatching, pickpocketing and break-in of shops was direct fallout of rising number of migrant street vendors in the market.
He said neither the municipal council nor the police department have bothered to check the antecedents or verify the identification of the migrant vendors while the chief officer has failed to direct the municipal staff to check personal data of street vendors in the market.
In his complaint, the MMA chief has also said that vendors have illegally encroached on parking spaces, open areas and streets.
“The vendors deal in low quality textile goods, cheap imitation electronic goods, which have resulted in revenue loss to our business,” Shirodkar said. Blaming the chief officer for the rise in illegalities in the market and consequently causing loss of business and revenue to traditional shopkeepers, the MMA chief has requested the police to file a criminal case against the Mapusa CO.
