MARGAO
Last time the Margao wholesale fish market road was rid of encroachments, illegal parking, besides stench from the stinking fish market, was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi twice visited the city over the last one year “ for the National Games and to launch the Viksit Bharat, Viksit Goem.
Before Modi’s visit, the wholesale fish market road was spruced up with authorities enforcing no parking on both sides, was during the visit of the Foreign Ministers for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting at a Benaulim resort in May 2023.
Reason: The authorities had stepped in in a bid to ensure that the VVIPs traveling on the wholesale fish market road had a smooth journey to their destination, free from traffic snarls and encroachers.
With the government bracing up to commission the western bypass road, the authorities may have to grapple with a contentious question “ will the wholesale fish market road, a vital link, connecting the western bypass at Seraulim to the commercial capital at the Margao KTC bus stand, be free from obstructions and encroachments at all times?
Well, this question may soon come to haunt the district Collector, Egna Cleectus, Additional Collectors, Srinet Kothwale and Uday Prabhudesai, DySP Traffic Rajendra Prabhudesai, besides Margao Municipal Chief Officer Melvyn Vaz. For, these authorities are in one way or other responsible to rid the wholesale fish market road free from traffic snarls, encroachers and illegal parking on both sides of the road.
Take note, the High Court had in a suo moto writ petition too had issued a host of directions to the authorities to keep the road free from illegal parking and encroachers, etc, but in vain.
Traffic snarls
Motorists tend to avoid the wholesale fish market road to take the western bypass in the morning session to escape from the traffic snarls and congestion along the road, especially at the entry point to the wholesale fish market.
In the absence of traffic regulation, motorists have been forced to fend for themselves through the traffic snarls, either to get to the western bypass at Seraulim or enter the city via the wholesale fish market road. The reason is not far to seek. With hundreds of vehicles, of fish sellers and buyers, heading to the wholesale fish market in the wee hours of the day till 10 am on any given day, normal traffic often comes to a halt. While parents have been complaining of their children reaching the city schools late because of the acute traffic congestion, outstation buses and other traffic is often stranded on the wholesale fish market road.
It is feared in certain quarters that the situation will only worsen once the western bypass is commissioned and heavy traffic enters the city via the wholesale fish market road.
Vehicular parking on the road
The High Court had questioned parking of fish transporting vehicles along the wholesale fish market road, from the La Grace hotel-Seraulim culvert stretch.
In fact, the High Court directions had spurred the Margao Traffic cell to crack a whip against the fish transporting vehicles parked on both sides of the road. The situation, however, has returned to full circle with vehicles, parked along the wholesale fish market, is literally the order of the day.
Officials in private say the four-lane wholesale fish market is wide enough to handle any amount of traffic. Sadly, the road has been reduced to a two-lane road, with half the portion occupied by the fish transporting vehicles.
How the district authorities, besides the Traffic Cell will handle the issue of illegal parking on both side of the wholesale fish market is a million dollar question that remains unanswered.
Illegal vendors doing business along road
When Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had descended at the wholesale fish market around three years ago to take stock of the situation, he came across illegal vendors occupying the wholesale fish market road. The Chief Minister was quick to issue instructions to the Margao Municipal authorities to crack a whip against the illegal vendors, encroaching on the road and causing traffic congestion. The High Court in the Suo Moto writ petition too had issued clear directions to the authorities to clamp down heavily on the encroachers.
Much water has flown down the River Sal since then, and the encroachers are not only back, but enjoying a field day along the wholesale fish market road.
If fish is available inside the wholesale fish market, one can buy anything and everything along the road, right from vegetables to fruits, grocery items, eatables, readymade garments, etc, throwing up questions over the inaction by the authorities, including the Margao Municipal Council, against the illegal vending.
