Despite the arch erected by the authorities on a major road leading to Central Market — the wholesale and retail hub for vegetable and fruits — there was little perceptible change around the building on Tuesday.
At least 40 lorries had made it to the roads around the Central Market through alternative routes and were busy loading and unloading fruits and vegetables at 6.30 a.m. However, it appeared that lorries alone were not to blame for the frequent traffic congestion there. There appeared to be no dearth of space for movement of vehicles. As a daily wage earner, Mohammad Ansa of Faringipet, who has been working there for 17 years, pointed out, “If only all the stuff unloaded is taken into the building and shops by the shopkeepers and the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) and the police ensure that vehicles follow some discipline, there will be no problem.”
Vegetable and fruit baskets or boxes were occupying about five to eight metres of space from the wall of the building and spread on to the road in some places near the Roopavani Cinema.
A few yards away, on the eastern side of the building, half of the road was occupied by vegetable bags and the rest by a lorry from which cabbage was being unloaded. “Policemen rarely come here.
Even if they come, they look the other way,” said another daily wage-earner. Of the two fairly large areas of the Central Market building reserved for such retail vendors, one is totally deserted, the other is partially occupied.
The city corporation conducted a drive on Tuesday to remove them. “We frequently do this but they are back on the footpath soon after,” a city corporation official said.
