MARGAO
Sending a message loud and clear that it means business, the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) on Tuesday put up banners and notices in the PDA vegetable market warning vendors to clear the encroachments and clear the pending dues or face action.
Justifying the drive against the vegetable vendors, SGPDA Member Secretary Ashok Kumar pointed out that the 300-odd vegetable vendors owe around Rs 3.60 crore to the PDA, with each of the vendors owing Rs 1.62 lakh to the Authority.
This is the first time after TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai made his presence felt in the vegetable market, that the PDA has put up banners and notices in the PDA market, warning the vendors to clear up the encroachments or face action.
If Ashok Kumar is to be believed, the SGPDA will give time to the vegetable vendors for a fortnight to clear the encroachments and pay the arrears or face action. “The SGPDA is likely to be constituted within a fortnight and we expect the new body to take action against the encroachments and make the vendors pay the pending dues,” Ashok Kumar said.
Replying to a question, the SGPDA member secretary said that the PDA has begun the exercise with the vegetable block in the market, adding that the fish market and other blocks will be taken up in due course of time.
The SGPDA had mobilized a huge police force on Monday to crack a whip in the vegetable market, but postponed the operation at the eleventh hour.
Instead, the SGPDA gave time till 3 pm on Monday for the vendors to submit their say on the action proposed by the PDA, but in vain. “We all waited for the vendors to submit their say till 3 pm on Tuesday, but they did not turn up. Hence, we have decided to put up the banners and the notices to warn as a warning to the vendors to either fall in line or face action,” Ashok Kumar added.
