The State's biggest sub-yard in the heart of Mapusa is in a filthy state and requires urgent attention from the authorities. Maintained by the Goa State Agricultural Board, fruits and vegetables are traded in wholesale here. Hundereds of traders carry out business but the market lacks cleanliness and hygiene. Constructed over four decades ago, there is hardly any maintainence.
The road access is poor and paved with potholes. Maggots and mosquito larvae squirm and swim in the open gutters. Fruits like papayas and bananas are ripened overnight using chemicals and pesticides but the Food and Drug Administration officials are hardly seen around which implies that 'pecuniary' benefits allegedly given by traders are more important than public health. This makes them conspicous by their absence.
Fruits are sold in the most unhygienic manner and are often left to rot with flies moving from one stack to the other. The yard stinks with garbage lying all over the place. There is garbage dumped even at the entrance to the sub-yard. The authorities however are seen regularly collecting taxes or sopo from the traders but fail to maintain the market.
One wonders who pockets the tax amount if the market is not cared for. Animals too frequent the area to feast on rotting fruits dumped in the area and often attack visitors here. Will the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant direct the authorities to maintain a check on the mess at the market yard and pull up those putting public health at risk?