The port city of Goa is going to celebrate the 116th Damodar Saptah Festival which starts on Thursday 20th August this year. According to the report thousands of devotees from across the state will be participating into this yearly event and the entire town of Vasco will be dressed into the festive look for the next seven days. The review meeting in this regards was held at in the presence of two local MLAs Milind Naik and Carlos Almeida yesterday at the deputy collector’s office, the other stakeholder who were present at the meeting includes the Police officials, Traffic Cell, Health department officials, Municipality staff and others.
This year the festival will have around 900 stalls as out of 1000 application only 900 were allowed to put the stalls as the setting up of the stall needs all the permissions from Police, Health & Fire departments and all of them did not manage to get through it. MMC CO Melvin Vaz said that out of these 900, around 560 are traditional stalls and will be allotted their original places. The new ones will be settled in the remaining places. Besides the stalls they are planning to set up the dengue awareness camp next to the Damodar temple which will help to create awareness among the visitors regarding dengue, the brochure will also be distributed.
“We are keen that this Saptah is systematically observed wherein no stall will be allowed to encroach footpath or come on the road. If the stalls are found not complying with the rules they will be fined,” Said the MMC CO Melvyn Vaz. Six police watchtowers and CCTV cameras will be installed. While police force from South Goa will be manning security. MMC authorities are also planning to make all the necessary arrangements so that the devotees would not be inconvenienced. There are plans to make available mobile toilets, and drinking water facility. The municipal authorities were also asked to maintain cleanliness, and to lift the garbage from time to time by dividing municipal workers into small groups. “Special security arrangement would be in place. The police authorities have been asked to install watch towers at various points at the Saptah fair, wherein armed policemen would be keeping a watch. They would monitor the movement of the people throughout the festival,” Naik informed.
Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida said that the district collector would be implementing the order, issued by the High Court of Bombay at Goa, restricting the fair duration to 7 days. The order was issued following public interest litigation filed by some of the prominent physicians from the port town.
The movement of heavy vehicles (entry and exit) will be restricted from 10 a.m. on August 20 till midnight of August 21 in order to prevent traffic congestion.
“Heavy vehicles will be allowed movement in the town between 11.30 p.m. and 7 a.m. for 6 days from August 22 to 27,” informed the deputy collector and sub-divisional magistrate Mormugao.
The health department informed about the remedial measures adopted by them during July 1-August 15 in order to curb dengue in New Vaddem and other localities. As per the statistics available with the health department, of the 136 suspected dengue cases reported in Vasco, 85 were found in New Vaddem itself.
Source: Various Sources
Edited by: Goa Prism News Desk
