They demanded that the old system for allocation of stalls and rent be followed. Church officials clarified that they have cut down the rent and do not want to attract any negativity. The church allows around 150 stalls to sell candles, flowers, food, toys and artificial jewellery every year during the weeklong fair, which will start on September 8 this year. Many stallholders’ families have been selling wares during the 300-year-old fair for generations.

The controversy

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The rent for stalls was around Rs 150 per sq ft for eight days in 2022. Last year, the church increased it to Rs 350 per sq ft, which stallholders agreed to pay. Now, the church introduced a colour-code system based on the location and area of the stall where the maximum amount is Rs 3,000 per sq ft. This means operating a stall with an area of 100 sq ft would cost the owner Rs 3,00,000. On Sunday, stall owners protested against a proposal to hike the rent tenfold. The church then agreed to hold discussions and a meeting was held on Tuesday afternoon.

“Initially the meeting was held in the morning, but then they delayed it further. During the meeting, the church agreed to lower the rent from Rs 3,000 to Rs 2,000 per sq ft. Subsequently, they reduced the lowest rent of Rs 1,250 to Rs 1,000 per sq ft. Even so, these are exorbitant amounts. People do not get that much business and old stallholders requested a meeting with the archbishop, as he is the final authority,” said a meeting attendee.

Rupesh Gomes, who is leading the stallholders, said, “The church hardly lowered the rents, which are still very high compared to 2022. We put forward four demands. We want old people [traditional stallholders], the old system [of allocating stalls], old rent [from 2022] and we want to install our stalls ourselves and do not want a church-appointed contractor to do this.

We have stalled the distribution of forms and requested them to not start the system unless the issue is resolved. Every year, the allotment is done on August 15 for regular stallholders and even this year, they should do the same.” Fr Sunder M Albuquerque, vice-rector of the church, said, “We have discussed the matter with a team of respectable citizens under the archbishop. They backed the plan of allotting stalls and even agreed that the rent was not tenfold but two to three times last year's plan.

Stall owners protest against proposed rent hike and tendering system at Mount Mary Basilica on Sunday

There were demands about the old rent. We received a good response after introducing the new tender system last year. We have already cut the rent down after having discussions. If someone doesn't find it feasible, they should not claim stalls.” Speaking about the contractor issue, Fr Albuquerque said, “We have given the contract for three years to install fire-proof, accident-proof stalls. There isn’t an August 15 deadline, but the agitation is only delaying the process. Overall, we are involved with charity and don’t want to attract any negativity. Lowering the rent will affect the donations for the needy.”