MARGAO
Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai’s ambitious wholesale market project may take months to see light of the day given that it is still in the planning stage with the SGPDA consultant busy preparing the designs before the plan is vetted by the PDA and unveiled before the public for suggestions.
Also, there is not change in the ground reality at the State’s lone wholesale fish market. In fact the situation appears grim with each passing day. The stench at the market has only become worse, even as the SGPDA seem to have run of ideas on tackling the stinking environment.
While hectic work is underway to lay concrete blocks in the parking lot along the main road passing by the wholesale fish market, there’s utter neglect, apathy and indifference to the pathetic conditions inside the market. Not only the customers, who visit the wholesale fish market complain of stink, the wholesalers say the government should intervene immediately and work out stop-gap arrangements till the ambitious project gets underway.
President of the wholesale fish market Association, M Ibrahim, cried foul over the sordid conditions in the wholesale fish
market.
“We cannot enter the market. Water has stagnated everywhere for want of drainage. I am thankful to TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai for his initiative to rebuild the wholesale fish market, but the PDA should devote immediate attention and adopt some temporary measures to deal with the present conditions,” Ibrahim said.
A couple of months ago, the wholesalers had dumped slag in the market as a stop-gap arrangement to address the issue of stagnant water and stink, but the situation is back to square one for want of a permanent solution.
“The association had dumped around 100 truck loads of slag to tackle the stench and the muck in the market. The temporary solution had offered some relief to the customers as well as the wholesale fish traders and other stake holders, but the situation is back to square one,” he lamented.
Ibrahim pointed out that a delegation of the wholesale fish traders, besides other stakeholders, will call on the TCP Minister after his return from Delhi with a plea to direct the SGPDA to initiate some temporary measures to tackle water stagnation and stench.
The TCP Minister had said the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation will take up work of bringing about a turnaround in the market.
