Champakkara’s emergence on the scene as the most prominent fish trading centre in the district in terms of inter-State exchanges, has not been by chance.
The market has inherited more than a 100-year-old tradition of being the meeting point of people seeking to exchange goods and services.
Old-timers recall how people from around Maradu, Kundannoor, Vyttila and Ernakulam brought coir rope, and people from south like Pallithode and Chellanam brought their fish catch and farm produce to Champakkara, located at the gateway to the eastern regions of what is now the Ernakulam district and the High Ranges.
Local historian V.P. Saseendran recalled how prominent Champakkara was. Coir used to be the most prominent commodity about 45 to 50 years ago and fish came only a second, he said. Local fishermen brought in their catch, not substantial in those days. But it was the Champakkara market, located by the Vembanad lake and a stone’s throw from Ernakulam town, that hosted the ever growing interactions.
The ‘Vandipetta’ located close to the Champakkara market has a long history of being the resting place for bullock carts that brought produces from the hills and took back fish, both dry and fresh ones, in large quantities for supplies to areas like Moovattupuzha and Thodupuzha.
The buzz has grown as the market, diversified and specialised over the past two-and-a-half decades, to grow into a fish exchange of sorts.
Despite its dilapidated condition, the Champakkara market is a source of livelihood for hundreds of people ranging from loading and unloading workers to cleaners and fish mongers.
The volume of fish sales has gone up to between 75 and 80 tonnes on a normal day, the bulk of this being sardines (20 to 30 tonnes) coming from as far away as Cuddalore and go back to Tamil Nadu centres like Pollachi.
Leading fish sales broker Martin, who has followed in his father’s footsteps, says that while sardines come into Kerala from fish landing centres in Tamil Nadu, varieties like threadfin breams ( kilimeen ), red snappers ( chempalli ) and barracuda ( sheelavu ) make their way into Tamil Nadu centres like Madurai, Tanjore and Thiruchirappally from Champakkara. Despite Kerala’s and Kochi’s fame to being rich in fish resources, fresh water varieties like pearlspot ( karimeen ) and tilapia come in large quantities into Kochi and neighbouring markets from Andhra Pradesh via Champakkara.
Asghar, a broker, said that pearlspot and tilapia are brought to Champakkara by train and reach the market in 24 hours from aqua farms on the eastern coast of Andhra Pradesh. He did not quantify the arrivals, but said that they were quite substantial as the demand for these varieties is constantly on the rise. Both Martin and Asghar admit that dealing in fish is dicey, as fortunes seesaw according to the availability and fluctuating demand. “Sometimes we suffer a loss and close our eyes to that,” said Martin about his business of bringing sardines from Tamil Nadu to sell in the local market. Sardines are not a preferred variety in Tamil Nadu but in Kerala demand for the fish never abates”, he said.
Despite its growing importance as a major fish trading centre, the Champakkara market’s physical infrastructure has remained static over the years. The floors where fish is auctioned and the area where other traders transact business have not undergone any change in recent memory, says N. Satheesh, local area secretary of the CPI(M), which has a strong representation among workers in the market.
He blamed the Kochi Corporation, which auctions out the market to the highest bidder every financial year, for the condition of the market. However, corporation councillor and health standing committee chairman T.K. Ashraf said that a proposal was on to renovate the market and that the corporation was taking the issue seriously.
The market contractor A.D. Varghese said that the market’s condition has remained more or less the same over these years but contractors have done their best to keep it clean using the current facilities.
One of the workers in the market expressed his fears that the arrival of the metro rail line would substantially shrink the market, possibly preventing any further expansion and modernisation of the market. However, Mr. Satheesh said that the metro rail authorities had promised that the rail line would be built on pillars to avoid occupying the space used for the market now.
A.P. Sambashivan, representing the workers under CITU in the market, too expressed his concern at the possibility of the market space shrinking with the arrival of the metro. However, there was once a proposal to acquire the land just outside the market on its northern side to expand the market, he said. The proposal is still in cold storage.
The Champakkara market, as a source of livelihood for hundreds of people and as a hub for fish trading, needs better infrastructure. Until that time, people who depend on it for a living make do with the poor facilities.
