Although it is one of the biggest and well known cattle shandies in Tamil Nadu, the ground where the weekly shandy is held at Manapparai has been languishing without proper amenities for long.
The shandy held from Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon every week attracts anywhere between 3,000 to 5,000 head of cattle every week.
The shandy grounds located near the Tiruchi Road, however, lacks basic amenities such as proper lights, drinking water supply, and toilets.
The ground maintained by the Manapparai Municipality also lacks hygiene with cattle dung and left over dry fodder not being removed regularly, say farmers and traders visiting the shandy.
Although the municipality levies an entry fee on cattle head brought for sale, it has not bothered to improve amenities at the ground where the shandy is being held for several decades now, regretted A.Muthusamy, a farmer.
“The most important problem is absence of proper lighting.
“This poses a difficulty, as the shandy attracts a large number of buyers and sellers on Tuesday evening when most of the trade is carried out,” he said. In the absence of waiting sheds, buyers and sellers have to trade in the open.
The municipality did not even bother to create a new entrance following the closure of the one due to the four-lane project. “We had to open up a new way by demolishing a portion of the compound wall,” a farmer said.
