Years of encroachments, inadequate infrastructure and neglected safety SOPs have created catastrophic conditions at the twin municipal markets
Margao: The twin municipal markets of Margao — the New Municipal Market and Gandhi Market — house more than a thousand traders packed into every available inch of space. Their inventory spans cosmetics and chemicals, foam and tarpaulin, savouries and sweets, garments and jute ropes. By any fire safety reckoning, it is an extraordinarily combustible environment. Yet, according to the fire department’s own assessment, it remains dangerously ill-equipped to deal with a major blaze.A fire safety audit of the New Municipal Market carried out in Feb this year painted a troubling picture. It flagged unauthorised increases in electrical load across several shops, identified the absence of a dedicated firefighting water supply, and reiterated long-standing concerns over blocked access routes and inadequate fire safety infrastructure.“The safety of shopkeepers and customers is our top priority, but the delay in constructing an overhead water tank for a dedicated firefighting water pipeline has left us vulnerable,” said Gopal Naik, president of the New Market Traders Association.The structural problems are neither new nor obscure. Over the years, traders have steadily extended their shops into passages, shrinking what were meant to be escape routes into narrow corridors. For firefighters, that has created an even bigger problem.
“There is absolutely no access for fire tenders in case of an emergency, as was evident during the recent fires,” a senior fire department official said. “Shopkeepers have encroached upon passages. It is imperative that passage widths of at least 1.5 to 2 metres are maintained so the public can evacuate safely without causing a stampede.”Inside the markets, the first line of defence is largely absent. Few shops are equipped with even basic fire extinguishers. The hydrants that do exist are connected to the public water supply network, which delivers barely 2 bar of pressure — well short of the minimum 3.5 bar required for effective firefighting. In practical terms, officials say, the hydrants offer little protection in the event of a serious fire.The remedy has long been known. Authorities had proposed installing a 25,000-cubic-litre overhead water tank — enough to hold more than five fire tenders’ worth of water — on the site of the old fish market. Linked to hydrants around the market through a dedicated pipeline, the system would have allowed firefighters to begin operations almost immediately by connecting hoses to the nearest hydrant. But the proposal was shelved after the Margao Municipal Council decided to reserve the site for a multi-level parking project.For the more than 1,000 traders who work in the markets every day, and the thousands of shoppers who pass through their narrow lanes, the vulnerabilities remain unchanged: no dedicated firefighting water supply, obstructed access for emergency vehicles, inadequate evacuation routes and minimal fire safety equipment. It is a combination that fire officials have repeatedly warned could turn a routine electrical fault or small blaze into a major disaster.
