Traders of onion-potato market have got a relief after the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) on Friday decided to extend the deadline of vacating the structure from June 15 to July 15.
“In a meeting at Mantralaya, it was decided that the APMC will give us an extension of a month and also find a solution to the resettlement. We are waiting for a decision,” Ashok Walunj, an onion-potato trader and director of Maharshtra Rajya Bazar Samiti Mahasangh, said.
Onion-potato and garlic traders have been waiting for rehabilitation since the building was declared dangerous in 2003. On March 22, the APMC sent a notice to 234 of the 250 traders to vacate the market by June 1, which was later extended by 15 days, and now till July 15.
But the traders have been demanding that the authorities first make an alternative arrangement.
“In 2005, when I was the director of the market, we had processed a tender and a work order for a new building was issued for ₹52 crore , which the government was to fund. The plan was to shift each wing to the auction hall in the market and construct a new wing. The project was to be finished in three years. But there was a dispute among traders. While some wanted an increase in FSI, some didn’t. Hence the plan was cancelled, and now the entire market is suffering,” Mr. Walunj said.
Currently, the market is spread across 15 acres with seven buildings. “The authorities had given as an option of shifting to a two-acre plot that belongs to the MAFCO market. We are already finding it difficult to operate from the 15-acre plot; working on a two-acre area is impossible,” Mr. Walunj said.
With around 300 trucks entering the market every day, the traders have urged the authorities to allot a bigger space.
Anil Chavan, secretary of APMC, Mumbai, said, “We will set up transit camps of 200 square feet at the MAFCO market for each trader. This is the only land available where we can relocate them temporarily. Later, after the processing of tender, the work at the market will start. While the government will fund the work of drainage, road and electricity, the traders will have to bear the expenditure of the construction of their shops.”
