As construction of a central market for vegetables, fruits and flowers at Kallikudi on the outskirts of the city nearing completion, the district administration took the first step towards shifting the traders to the new market by convening a consultative meeting with traders’ representatives of the market on Monday.
The market is being established on a 9.79-acre plot off Tiruchi-Madurai National Highway, about 15 km from here. The a project was announced by late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in July 2014 when she represented the Srirangam Assembly constituency in the wake of persistent demand for shifting the wholesale section of the Gandhi Market to a spacious location. The project was sanctioned at a cost of ₹ 77.06 crore with assistance under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
However, there was no official word on whether traders of the market would be asked to shift to the new place. A section of traders had been opposing the move on the ground that there was no prior consultation with them on the design or the location of the new facility. They observed a strike and downed shutters for a day in February last year contending that the shops at the new market were too small and not suitable for them.
Traffic bottleneck
Gandhi Market, established in 1940, has over 1,500 permanent and pavement shops on about 6.5 acres of land. Different sections such as the ‘vengaiya mandi,’ ‘vazhakai mandi,’ ‘vellamandi’ and the ‘pazha mandi’ spill over Madurai Road, Thanjavur Road, Nelpettai Road, East Boulevard Road and Sub-Jail Road and have become a major traffic bottleneck.
As a first step, Collector K.S.Palanisamy on Monday convened a meeting with representatives of various traders associations to discuss the issue. He told ‘The Hindu’ that the discussion, only the first of series of meetings, was to shift them. “The meeting was positive. We will have more discussions before arriving at a decision,” he said.
According to sources, opinion was divided among traders with some opposing the move. Ve.Govindarajalu, treasurer, Vanigar Sangakalin Peramaippu, is said to have opposed the move stating that the facilities at the new market were inadequate.
Representatives of a few other associations were in favour of retaining the retail market at Gandhi Market. “We are not in favour of moving retail traders away from the city. Retail traders function within the four walls of Gandhi Market and do not cause any disturbance to traffic around the market. May be, they can consider shifting traders who function outside the market encroaching the roads,” said U.S.Karuppiah, president, Gandhi Market United Corporation Approved Platform and Permanent Shopkeepers Association. The retail market should be accessible to people, he said and pointed out that the market had been functioning since 1940.
M.K.Kamalakannan, president, Tiruchi Gandhi Market Vyaparigal Munnetra Sangam, owing allegiance to the Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangankalin Peravai, favoured retaining the retail section and shifting wholesale traders to the new market. This is a traditional market functioning for several decades. In many cities, wholesale markets function outside the city. If this was done, it would help decongest the area.
Meanwhile, officials said that construction of the new market was nearing completion. The market, with modern infrastructure, will have 1,000 shops, a cold storage of 2,000 tonne capacity, sorting and grading yards and wide internal roads to facilitate easy movement of trucks loading and unloading goods at the facility.
