Vasco's saptah streets wear a desolate look

VASCO: The annual DamodarSaptah fair, which otherwise wears a festive look, witnessed not a single shop being opened to celebrate the saptah.
Those who were affected blamed the government and the Mormugao municipal council (MMC) for the failure, and the police for not providing the required protection.
Though the municipality allotted more than 700 stalls, not even half were erected and those who erected their stalls were threatened not to open them.
When South Goa collector N D Agrawal along with SP Shekhar Prabhudesai also received complaints, they rushed to the port town and took stock of the situation. Deputy collector Gourish Sankhwalkar said, "This year, the municipality decided to put the stalls section-wise. Those selling toys, clothes and such items will be in a row instead of following the usual confusing method."
The 'senior' vendors who have been erecting stalls in Vasco for about 15-20 years, demanded that they should be given their same old place as shifting to the corners will affect their business badly. Many youngsters and children were seen disappointed when they saw the fair closed.
Agrawal noticed that the 'senior' vendors did not allow the vendors who were allotted numbers to erect their stalls as they felt the spot belonged to them and to avoid any law-and-order problem, he asked all the vendors to strictly go as per the allotted numbers.
MMC chief officer Yashwant Tawade said, "We confiscated the material of the 'old' vendors because they had dumped it in the allotted area which was given to others and did not allow them to erect their stalls in spite of the warning." The material was later handed over to the vendors.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a sweet-maker said, "We are here to do business and want to open our outlets, but there is no one either from the police or from the MMC to stand up and give us courage."
DySP Lawrence D'Souza said, "The police are moving around. They are posted on the watch-towers and are in civil clothing. People can even contact us by giving a call and tip us off about at least one person forcing them to shut down." The fair normally starts on the first day of the saptah and only the 'khajekars' had managed to open their stalls. One of the 'khajekars' said, "A group of 15 persons came to us and asked us to shut down the stall, threatening us with serious consequences. We move around with them in all parts of the state, so we have to keep quiet."
Though about 150 policemen have been roped in from the entire South Goa belt adding to the force of the Mormugao police, the police have failed to rein in the warring group. The streets are desolate and people are scared of a law-and-order problem. Reshma Sheikh, a vendor, said "We wait for this fair for the entire year and I have brought in material by taking a loan on gold. We will suffer losses in lakhs." Another vendor, who sat with his packed material, Deepak Poraji, said, "It is a complete failure on the municipality's part. We are suffering."