New ‘Police Desk’ at Anjuna Flea Market May Strip the Charm of a Place as many Foreigners Doing Business May be Ousted

Anjuna Flea Market is one of the famous Hippie Markets in Goa that lead to a process of starting the Flea Markets in Goa. The Foreigners doing business in these Flea Markets is the major charm of the place and the new initiative taken by the Goa Police to set up the Police Desk in the Flea Markets to keep watch on the Fake Visas, but the real question here is whether the real purpose of it will be fulfilled or the foreigners might get harassed on the name of Visa??

If there is one thing the coastal belt has to offer other than its beaches, it is the presence of the popular flea market that is put up once a week in the village of Anjuna. This weekly market that is held every Wednesday in the coastal village of Anjuna, was started way back in the 1970s by the hippies who would all rendezvous at one place to share their experiences as well as sell jewelry and other stuff to fund their stay in India.

The market is set up in private land and more than 300 stalls dot the open place close to the beach at St Minguel vaddo, Anjuna. However, from the early ’90s with the influx of Tibetans, Kashmiris, tribals and nomads from different parts of India, the trend has become more Indianised with most of the stalls selling t-shirts, colorful sarees, bags, trinkets, etc.

Although many of the businesses are run by Indians the market continues to attract locals, as well as foreigners, rush to the market every week. This dawn to dusk Flea Market is very popular among the foreigners and even locals visit the market either to shop or socialize.

But much to the surprise of locals and foreigners on Wednesday morning they witnessed a Police ‘Desk’ at the flea market which has spread a feeling of gloom amongst many in the beach village as well as the local panchayat. Anjuna Police have set up a foreigner’s passport verification desk at the flea market, with the aim of verifying the documents of foreigners visiting the place.

“Besides verifying the documents of the foreigners, we also check passports of foreigners who have set up stalls to see whether they have a business visa or not,” Anjuna PI Suraj Gawas said.

However, this didn’t go down well with either the locals and business operators from the village as foreigners have begun to avoid the market which has led to their businesses being affected.

A village panchayat member under the garb of anonymity says, “It’s a sorry state of affairs. Instead of setting up a passport verification desk, the cops should have set up a help desk to guide the foreigners. This will only scare away the foreigners from the market,”

“We will write to the police that their presence is going to impact the market and people (read foreigners) will not visit the market,” said Savio Almeida, Anjuna sarpanch.

However many locals who are aware of illegal activities taking place in this weekly market feel that the presence of police is most needed, which will help in curbing any untoward activities taking place there.

What are your views on this piece of the article? do you agree with the steps taken by the Goa Police by setting up the Police Desk at the Anjuna Flea Market? Will this step of police help to trace the illegal activities in the market or it will scare away the foreigners from one of the most famous Flea Markets in Goa?? 

Source: The Goan