The wholesale vegetable market in the narrow congested bylanes of Kalasipalya, a nightmare to navigate through especially when it rains, may be a thing of the past soon.
Enthused by the successful experiment of shifting the market to the city’s outskirts in Singena Agrahara off Electronics City during the pandemic-imposed lockdown in 2020, the Department of Agricultural Marketing has decided to permanently shift the market there.
Given Kalasipalya also doubles up as a private bus services hub, buses and trucks have made the market almost unsustainable.
This is not the first time a proposal has been made to shift the market out. An earlier proposal to shift it to a 30-acre plot in Byatarayanapura, Yelahanka, got stuck in land acquisition issues and never took off.
But not this time. “We have already finished acquiring 42 acres of land in Singena Agrahara where a well-equipped market with nearly 500 shops will be developed soon and the wholesale vegetable market shifted there. Ideally all wholesale markets must be on the city’s outskirts to lessen travel by farmers and avoid traffic in the city,” said Karee Gowda, Director, Department of Agriculture Marketing.
The department has already paid ₹48.5 crore for land acquisition, sources said. The new market being planned will have wide roads, parking facilities for trucks, and all modern facilities including a waste processing plant, drinking water facilities and toilets, sources said.
R.V. Gopi, president, Vegetables and Fruits Wholesale Merchants’ Association, said all wholesale traders are willing and ready to shift to Singena Agrahara, provided a well-equipped market is developed.
“During the lockdown last year, we were asked to shift to an empty plot of land there, with no facilities. That cannot be the case,” he said. “There are 430 wholesale shops in Kalasipalya and another 200-250 shops that are retail shops. While the wholesale shops will move, the retail shops will stay here,” he added.
