In a major move, the State government has proposed to allot a portion of the Central Market for Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers at Kallikudi, situated about 12 km away from the city off Tiruchi-Madurai national highway, to the Farmers Producers Organisations.
The move assumes significance against the backdrop of the defiant opposition by the traders of Gandhi Market to shift their businesses to the newly built market at Kallikudi. It otherwise means that the new market, which was built in the wake of growing demand for shifting the traders of Gandhi Market to a more spacious location, will no longer serve the original purpose.
Highly placed sources told The Hindu that the Commissioner of Agricultural Market, S.J. Chiru, who visited the Kallikudi market a few weeks ago, had submitted a proposal to the Agricultural Secretary on ways and means to utilise the facility.
He had placed his recommendation for allotting a portion of the market to the Farmers Producers Organisations. Depending upon their requirements, the space could be used for either storage purposes and exhibiting their produce for sales.
The sources added that as per the recommendation, out of 19 blocks, 5 blocks could be earmarked to the Farmers Producers Organisations. It would be a win win situation for both the farmers, who were associated with the FPOs, and the Agricultural Marketing department that owned the Kallikudi market. Suitable rent could be collected from the FPOs for utilising the shops.
The recommendations came up for discussion when Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam visited the Kallikudi market along with Collector S. Sivarasu on Saturday. Mr. Shanmugam asked the Collector to explore various options to make use of the facility, which remains unused since 2017.
The idea to build a central market at Kallikudi emerged when former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa represented Srirangam Assembly constituency in 2014. It soon became a reality with the construction of over 1000 shops spread over 10 acre. It was built with financial assistance from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and a sum of ₹77 crore has been spent for the sprawling market at Kallikudi.
The market was declared opened on September,5,2017. Citing long distance from the city, most of Gandhi market traders refused to move to the new market. After several rounds of discussions and persuasions by the district administration, just 5 traders began their business at the Kallikudi market on June,30,2018. They also shut down their businesses within a few days due to poor patronage.
