The Vasco fish market on Thursday saw an uproar from fruit and fish vendors who came together to oppose the Mormugao Municipal Council’s (MMC) decision to shift the fish vendors to a temporary shed. Tension ran high at the fish market after MMC junior engineer along with police arrived at the market to inform the fruit vendors to shift to the new temporary shed from Thursday. The vendors challenged the civic body staff saying that they would rather “die in the old market than shift elsewhere”. MMC plans to construct a new market for which they want vendors to shift to a shed built for the purpose. MMC has built a temporary shed behind the vegetable market for fruit and fish vendors. The vendors were informed that the old structure will be demolished and a new complex will be built with all facilities. The traditional fishing group at the market had previously agreed to MMC’s plans for shifting but has asked officials to stop all street vendors and wholesalers from selling fish. Leader of the fish vendors Caridade Pereira said, “We were born and grown here. We have not taken a single rupee from anyone to build this structure. We will not go anywhere. Time and again the municipality has failed to stop illegal selling of fish and we don’t have faith in them.” On Thursday only the fruit vendors had been asked to move to the new shed by Friday. Civic officials and stakeholders will meet the fisherfolk on Friday afternoon to discuss their issues.
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