the goan I network
MARGAO
Pre-monsoon showers that lashed the city over the last few days have already turned the market area slippery for want of a hot-mix or concrete layer. And, with the monsoon scheduled to hit the state in the second week of June, it is feared that the situation may turn from bad to worse.
While the PDA has taken up work on the construction of the retaining wall, it has failed to carry out repairs and maintenance of the place inside where fish-trading takes place. The less said about the drains and effluents, the better. The sludge generated in the wholesale fish market continues to find its way to the adjoining fields for want of an effluent treatment plant.
Aggrieved wholesale fish merchants under the banner of All Goa Wholesale Fish Market Association last week led a delegation to Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai seeking his intervention to bring about a turn around in the market. The delegation, led by president M Ibrahim, impressed upon the local MLA to take up the market maintenance on a war-footing in the interest of various stakeholders operating in the market. “We are totally disgusted with the pathetic state of affairs in the market. People cannot walk in the market as the muddy surface has turned slippery. We have approached Sardesai since he is representing Fatorda constituency,”
Ibrahim said.
Saying that the wholesalers are ready to take over the market maintenance even on BOOT basis, Ibrahim said what the market requires today is a concrete coat instead of a layer of hot-mix as a permanent solution to the problem. “We are ready to take up the maintenance work. You will not believe, we got the market illumination sanctioned from the local MLA to tide over the situation since fish-trading takes place as early as three in the morning,” Ibrahim added.
Promises and assurances handed out by the SGPDA in the past to put things in place before the onset of monsoon has remained only on paper.
When The Goan contacted SGPDA Member Secretary, Ashok Kumar, to shed light on the wholesale fish market, he conceded that the PDA could not take up work on hot-mixing before the monsoon. “We had prepared a proposal to spruce-up the entire wholesale fish market at a cost of Rs 1.97 crore. The works includes tarring, repair of drainage and replacement of slabs. The proposal has received the technical sanction and the file has now gone to the government for administrative approval,” Ashok Kumar said.
With rains round the corner, the PDA Member Secretary said that all these works will be taken up only after receiving the administrative approval and depending on the availability of funds “ virtually ruling out the possibility of initiating stop-gap measures in the market for the benefit of the stakeholders.
