The Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to redevelop the fruit and vegetable market in Saidapet by demolishing the existing buildings and constructing new ones with toilets, parking and other such amenities.
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Health and Family Welfare Minister and Saidapet MLA Ma. Subramanian, Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi and other elected representatives and senior officials inspected the market on Wednesday to discuss different options for the redevelopment. They interacted with the traders in the market.
While the fish and meat market functions on the land belonging to Karaneeswarar Temple in Saidapet, the fruit and vegetable market is functioning on the land belonging to the Corporation.
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Mr. Subamanian told presspersons that the market, which is more than a century old, is one of the few such important facilities in the city. He said that the buildings are in a dilapidated state with poor amenities. It became particularly difficult to use the market during rain.
He said that the Corporation will soon finalise a proposal and float tenders to commence the reconstruction work. The traders will be shifted to an open ground temporarily during the construction, he said. “Only those who already have shops here will be allotted shops in the newly constructed buildings,” he said.
M. Magesh Kumar, Deputy Mayor, told The Hindu that the civic body would be exploring the option of taking the land where fish and meat market is functioning on a long-term lease from Karaneeswarar Temple and include that as well in the redevelopment plan.
Maternity hospital
Mr. Subramanian said that around 100 shops constructed in the locality in 1992 for street vendors had remained unused for many years.
Pointing out that the buildings were in a dilapidated state, he said a recommendation had been made to the Corporation to demolish the buildings and use the land for expanding the infrastructure of its maternity hospital in the adjacent location.