the goan I network
MARGAO
Filth has come to haunt the authorities “ be it health, Margao Municipal Council and the SGPDA, as they have been caught napping even as stinking wholesale fish market is posing a health hazard to fishermen and buyers.
More than a month after Margao Municipal Chief Officer, Sidhivinayak Naik
set foot in the wholesale fish market to undertake wholesale fish market clean up operation, the situation
has not come full circle, but has showed signs of
worsening.
It isn’t clear whether the MMC Chief Officer with workers in tow had entered into the SGPDA with a public interest litigation pending in the High Court of Bombay as Sidhivinayak Naik’s token presence in the market has failed to bring any turn around in the stinking environment.
If the SGPDA had all along failed to live up to the expectations of the wholesalers, fishermen and the fish buyers, MMC’s token cleanliness drive has failed to achieve any objective.
A visit to the wholesale fish market on Tuesday has revealed the worst scenario, with the drains clogged with plastic, waste and stagnant waters. Those in the know pointed out that they have not seen any of the authorities in the SGPDA market in recent days, including the SGPDA, which is the market owner, the Margao Municipal Council, which is supposed to take care of filth and stink in its jurisdiction and the health officials.
A wholesale fish agent pointed out that the ongoing work on the construction of drains in the wholesale fish market as part of the plan to put a new wholesale fish market in place, has blocked the free flow of ice water.
“The MMC Chief Officer only made his token presence in the wholesale fish market, may be because he was afraid of the High Court, which was then hearing a Public Interest Litigation. The MMC should have continued the exercise of cleaning the drains if it was really interested in maintaining hygiene in the market,” a fish buyer told The Goan.
The MMC Chief Officer, however, was not available for comment to shed light on the question as to why the civic body has stopped cleaning up the clogged wholesale fish market drains.
