Sellers operating illegally a big source of revenue for PDA; planning body may consider relocating them
Migrant fish vendors do brisk business at the wholesale fish market.
MARGAO
The concrete platforms built inside the re-developed wholesale fish market are all ready to witness the hustle and bustle after the commissioning of Goa’s lone wholesale fish market. For, the two platforms will host the wholesale fish market activity away from the stinking environment.
What about the scores of migrant retail fish vendors illegally swarming in the existing wholesale fish market? Will the SGPDA crack a whip against the migrant vendors or provide them with alternate space for business activity in a market which is strictly meant for wholesale fish and the sale of fresh fish by traditional fishermen and boat owners?
Indeed, a million-dollar question is staring at the SGPDA, as the Authority will have to decide on the fate of migrant fish vendors doing retail business inside the wholesale fish market.
If sources are to be believed, the scores of migrant vendors doing retail fish business inside the wholesale fish market have been a rich source of revenue for the PDA and the sopo collectors over the years. In a wholesale fish market, fish wholesalers are mandated to do only wholesale business, disposing of fish in boxes. In reality, however, fish from the boxes is being disposed of retail by the migrant vendors, selling fish in kilograms, after paying fees to the collectors.
In fact, apart from the fish vehicles entering the market, which are required to pay sopo to the SGPDA on an hourly basis, the migrant vendors swarming inside the wholesale market have been a rich source of revenue over the years.
The question that remains unanswered is how the SGPDA, headed by Chairman MLA Krishna Salkar, with both Margao MLA Digambar Kamat and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, amongst others, will go about taking a call on the scores of migrant retail vendors when the market is commissioned.
“Will the SGPDA permit the blatant illegal retail fish sale activity in the wholesale fish market, keeping in mind the revenue aspect, when the market was built purely for wholesale fish activity?” is a contentious question the SGPDA will have to answer before or after the commissioning of the market.
Goan vendors' claim
If migrant vendors do brisk business inside the complex by selling fish in kilograms, one also comes across Goan fish vendors outside the market compound wall, on the paved area adjoining the PWD road.
Some of these Goan fish vendors say that they have been permitted to do business at the market by former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar, given that they are traditional fishermen earning a living through the activity.
In fact, this group of fishermen has claimed that their names have been registered with the SGPDA since the time they were allowed to do business in the wholesale fish market by the former Chief Minister, late Parrikar. This has raised one or two questions: will the PDA crack a whip against the migrant vendors and allow the Goan vendors, or will the authority also allow the migrant vendors alongside the Goan vendors?
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Traditional fishermen question attempts to restrict biz timings
MARGAO: “For whom is the market, if the gates of the wholesale fish market do not remain open for the local fishermen, comprising of ramponkars, magkars, cantankars, besides the boat owners?” is a question that echoes in the wholesale fish market whenever attempts are made to restrict the business timings in the market.
The argument advanced by the traditional Goan fishermen is simple – do not club them together with the illegal migrant retail fish sellers or the fish traders. For, they are neither traders nor retailers, but traditional fishermen who net the catch from the sea and bring the fish for sale in the wholesale fish market.
The traditional fishermen insist that there cannot be fixed timings for the ramponkars, magkars, cantankars, and the canoe owners, since their catch depends on the conditions in the sea. “We hold no brief for the scores of migrant vendors in the wholesale fish market. But, what we insist on is that the wholesale fish market should remain open for the traditional fishermen to allow them to sell their fresh catch of fish at wholesale rates,” remarked a fisherman.
He added: “Please do not treat the traditional fishermen on par with the fish traders. These fish traders bring fish from across the borders to sell in the wholesale fish market. But, we fishermen go out to sea and bring the catch to the market. Hence, the market cannot be shut down after the business timings fixed for the fish traders.”
