Traders from other Vasco markets kept their shops shut for half a day in solidarity with fire-hit vendors.
VASCO
In a gesture of solidarity with traders wholost their shops and stocks in the devastating fire at the Vasco Sunday ModernMarket, around 300 businessmen and shopkeepers from other markets in Vasco kepttheir establishments closed for half a day on Friday, extending support totheir fellow traders during their hour of distress.
The traders said the decision was taken toconvey that the affected Sunday market vendors were not alone in their struggleto rebuild their businesses and that the entire trading community stoodtogether as one community.
"We felt extremely bad seeing the plightof the Sunday market vendors who lost their shops and their entire stocks inthe fire. Many of them have invested their life savings into their businesses.As fellow traders, we could not simply watch them suffer. We wanted to expressour solidarity and show them that we stand together as one community,"said a trader.
The shopkeepers said they also planned tocontribute funds from their own resources to help the affected vendors restarttheir livelihoods. They have appealed to the government to extend adequatefinancial assistance and expedite the restoration of the fire-ravaged market.
"We may be operating from differentmarkets, but we are all part of the same trading community. Today, they arefacing this tragedy, and tomorrow it could happen to anyone. We want to comeforward and contribute whatever we can to help them get back on theirfeet," another trader said.
The traders said their collective gesture wasintended not merely as a symbolic protest but as an expression of genuineconcern for fellow businessmen who had lost their investments and source oflivelihood in the fire.
