CANACONA
The response may have been poor, but locals welcomed the reopening of the Canacona’s weekly Saturday bazaar at Chaudi after a gap of 42 weeks since the lockdown.
According to sources, a few inter-state vendors brought their stocks, particularly vegetables and fruits, late Friday night and some loaded trucks arrived on Saturday morning. But the usual rush of people during the weekly bazaar was missing on Saturday.
The last weekly Saturday bazaar took place on March 14, 2020 and it was stopped the next week a day after the Covid lockdown began.
The weekly bazaar then remained shut and efforts to reopen the bazaar in mid-September last year were strongly resisted by the Canacona Municipal Council (CMC). Then CMC Chairperson Nitu Desai had warned of action against the vendors as the Covid cases began to rise in Canacona taluka, especially in the municipality.
“The weekly bazaar was finally reopened this Saturday, but since there was no prior intimation, the public were unaware and hence, there was a poor response to the bazaar,” said a customer.
