ASK CCP COMMISSIONER OR MAYOR OR MLA TO FILE COURT CASE AND WAIT FOR THE JUDGMENT.
STEPHEN DIAS Reclaiming Panaji Market One real problem is the CCP does not have a single authentic list of licensed shops CAN the new mayor of the Corporation of City of Panaji succeed in undoing illegalities in the capital's municipal market? The odds are very heavy. The scamsters are so well entrenched no mayor or commissioner could fathom where the scam began and where it ended. The recent visit of Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to the market complex drove CCP authorities to seal over 30 illegal shops/ rooms in the old market. However, the Bombay High Court ordered the CCP authorities to remove the seals of half of these premises because they had done it without issuing show cause notices. Why did the CCP authorities act in haste? Was it to make up for their inability to prepare a single list of licensed shops? Did they just want to show 'quick results' to Chief Minister? One real problem is the CCP does not have a single authentic list of licensed shops. There are several lists: the CCP has one; the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) which handled the two phases of the market project has another; and some former councillors, who represented the municipal council when the allotment of market premises was done, have yet another. How does the CCP reconcile the three lists? No wonder, the CCP is unable to decide action against illegitimate shops; it is not sure which are the legitimate ones. The CCP has conducted a number of surveys and inquiries to unearth the truth but the facts remain hidden behind a veil of mystery. A survey conducted by a committee headed by CCP Commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues found that nearly 95 per cent of the 500-odd shops in the city market complex were not being run by original tenants but by others. Probes revealed that some of the original lessees had illegally either sublet their shops or transferred them to third parties, despite the rule that transfer was permitted only to hereditary blood relatives. Some former councillors got some shops transferred in their names. Taking cognizance of massive illegalities, the state government appointed the then South Goa collector N D Agarwal to make an investigation. The Agarwal committee's findings were similar to those of the Rodrigues panel. It is quite mysterious why the CCP did not take a decisive action to put an end to illegalities. The illegalities are only getting more and more brazen as a result. The tenants presently occupying shops in the new market complex, whose first phase was completed in 2003 and the second one in 2007, have not paid rents for years to the CCP, not even water and electricity bills, all running into several crore. Most of the mayors, including the last one Surendra Furtado were keen on removing the illegal tenants but they failed to do so owing to lack of support from councillors with vested interests and the government. With illegal tenants and defaulting tenants, the CCP cannot be expected to look after the market properly. And that is a loss to the citizens who are buyers in the market. The conditions of the market complex are pathetic. Lack of maintenance has created a filthy environment in the market. Perhaps the murals based on Mario Miranda's sketches on the first floor of the new market tell the sad story. The murals are stained black and red, a legacy of dust, oily muck and paan spittle. The absence of signage boards also creates confusion in the minds of the visitors and restricts the customers to the ground floor of the market, even though a large number of shops are there on the first floor. The proposal of the CCP to construct an air-cooled third phase for the market, entirely dedicated to sale of eggs, fish and meat, is a plan that needs to be welcomed. However, if this phase too creates the same problems as witnessed in the first two phases, it would be really unfortunate for the customers who come not only from the Panaji city but also other parts of the state. The market also receives domestic and foreign tourists who come to buy various stuffs. The previous mayor Surendra Furtado was handicapped owing to the obstructionism of the BJP government. The present mayor belongs to the ruling camp. He has the window of opportunity to cleanse the market complex literally. Get rid of the illegal occupants and get rid of the filth. Citizens are looking. They know if it cannot happen now it cannot happen ever.
