Lt. Governor A.K. Singh on Sunday committed the administration to a schedule of opening the modern fish market at Lawspet without any further delay.
Officials rapped
Mr. Singh who undertook an inspection of the complex, which is yet to be opened even a year-and-a-half after its formal inauguration, rapped officials for the undue delay in opening the facility.
The building has remained locked due to procedural delays by the Oulgaret Municipality and the Fisheries Department. “We plan to open the facility in the first week of November,” said Manoj Parida, Chief Secretary.
The procedural delays include the lack of agreement between the Oulgaret Muncipality and the Fisheries Department over the mechanism for allotment of stalls to vendors and the norms for selection of vendors.
Part of the blame for the delay also pertained to the installation of a lift at the premises. The company entrusted with the work will be tasked with expediting the installation, officials said.
Built by PIA
The two-storey fully air-conditioned structure spread over 37,886 square feet was built by the Project Implementation Agency (PIA) with World Bank assistance of Rs.13.5 crore under the Tsunami Emergency Rehabilitation Project I. The complex was inaugurated by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on February 19, 2014.
The new complex was planned to cater the needs of fishermen from several coastal villages in Puducherry.
The complex has around 110 air-conditioned stalls including 55 stalls on the ground floor with cold storage facilities and separate areas for processing and cutting fish.
The other facilities in the complex include an effluent treatment plant, auction hall for fishes, 10-tonne capacity ice plant and an ATM. The plant would treat effluents collected from the market and has been fitted with a 10-KV solar power plant to meet the requirements of the shopping area.
