For years, he loved the hustle and bustleof Vasco’s crowded streets during the Saptah. Even though a devout Catholic,renowned pediatrician Dr. Rozario Menezes would put up with the annualinconvenience when stalls blocked the entrance to his clinic. This yearhowever, Dr. Menezes has joined 100 other prominent citizens who live and workon either side of Vasco’s main Swatantra Path to lodge a complaint with the SouthGoa Collector N. D. Agarwal and the High Court of Bombay. In addition they havealso approached the CM.
Dr. Menezes said “We support all religiousactivities. However when the Damodar Temple Committee that hosts the Saptah wenton record saying that it was a 24 hour religious affair and all the commercialactivities that went on for a fortnight had no religious connotation, wedecided to protest”.
The commercial activities are organized bythe Mormugao Municipal Council. For over two decades now, a greedy MMC has beenallowing over 800 stall owners to peddle their wares on the footpaths of Vascoand its internal streets. MMC grants permission for seven days but the stallowners are allowed to conduct business for a fortnight without permission. In 2004,the MMC dragged its feet following protests by citizens. Bharat Kamat who ledthis protest talks of how Keshav Kamat was carried on a bed sheet as there wasno way in which ambulance could come in. “The festival is over so whyinconvenience us. MMC makes no provision for toilets so people climb over dirtyour gardens. You shift your fair out or give us parking”, says Kamat. Citizenspoint out that there there are hardly any shoppers between 9 am and 5 pm so whyclose the road to traffic and inconvenience office-goers.
The concerned citizens chose Facebook tolaunch their campaign which resulted in large numbers registering theirsupport. A stubborn Council however decided to first close Swatantra Path followedby the Padre Jose Vaz road. “We have closed the Swatantra Path but will notallow any stall to be put up” confirmed South Goa Collector N. D. Agarwal evenas the MMC hurriedly sent a request for the closure of the roads after closingit to traffic.
The citizens cite a Bombay High Courtjudgment of 1997 in which the MMC was specifically asked to keep the footpathsin Vasco free. But the Council chose to ignore it, year after year. Thecitizens in their petition to Agarwal cited the Bombay High Court judgment for Margaoand Panjim where stalls straddling footpaths were shifted away from religiousevents. But the Collector prefers to lob the ball back to the MMC claiming thatit was their responsibility to ensure that shops did not encroach on to thefootpaths.
With the Saptah coming to an end on July 25th,nothing seems to have changed for regular office goers, the seriously ill and thechildren studying in the schools in the area. They remain as helpless as ever.The citizens are now planning to formally file a Public Interest Litigation toclear this annual mess.
