Cuncolim’s daily rokda labour market has been moved from outside the State Bank of India branch to a nearby open space, easing the traffic and pedestrian congestion that had affected traders, workers and members of the public.
Hundreds of migrant labourers would gather near the bank every morning while waiting for prospective employers to hire them for the day. The gathering frequently spilled onto the road, obstructing vehicles and pedestrians and creating an unsafe environment in the busy area.
The relocation followed repeated representations by the Cuncolim Traders Association to the authorities. Association president Yatin Talaulikar said traders had been pursuing the matter with the relevant authorities for four months without a response before approaching the Cuncolim Municipal Council again recently.
“After we approached Cuncolim Municipal Council once again recently, the chief officer and the administrator swung into action,” Talaulikar said. He said the entire migrant workforce had since been shifted to the open space, where workers could assemble without affecting traffic or pedestrian movement.
According to the traders’ association, the new location is also convenient for the workers and employers who use the informal labour market. The relocation is intended to separate the daily hiring activity from the road and the entrance area around the bank, where the crowd had created difficulties for routine movement.
The association had earlier proposed that the municipal council create a registration centre near the SBI branch and issue identity cards to workers. It had suggested collecting a nominal monthly fee of around Rs 300 per worker to cover administrative costs and maintaining documentation of each registered worker.
The proposed registration system, according to the association, would allow employers to verify workers before hiring them and give the municipal administration a record of the workforce using the labour market. The source report does not indicate that the registration centre or identity-card system has been implemented.
The immediate change has therefore been the shifting of the assembly point to an open space. Traders said the move has brought relief to businesses and pedestrians by removing the daily gathering from the road and the area in front of the bank. The municipal council’s next steps on regulating and documenting the labour market were not specified in the report.
