Efforts on to shift traders to new market
As construction of a central market for vegetables, fruits and flowers at Kallikudi on the outskirts of the city nearing completion, the district administration took the first step towards shifting the traders to the new market by convening a consultative meeting with traders’ representatives of the market on Monday. The market is being established on a 9.79-acre plot off Tiruchi-Madurai National Highway, about 15 km from here. The a project was announced by late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in July 2014 when she represented the Srirangam Assembly constituency in the wake of persistent demand for shifting the wholesale section of the Gandhi Market to a spacious location. The project was sanctioned at a cost of ? 77.06 crore with assistance under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. However, there was no official word on whether traders of the market would be asked to shift to the new place.
A section of traders had been opposing the move on the ground that there was no prior consultation with them on the design or the location of the new facility. They observed a strike and downed shutters for a day in February last year contending that the shops at the new market were too small and not suitable for them. Traffic bottleneck Gandhi Market, established in 1940, has over 1,500 permanent and pavement shops on about 6.5 acres of land. Different sections such as the ‘vengaiya mandi,’ ‘vazhakai mandi,’ ‘vellamandi’ and the ‘pazha mandi’ spill over Madurai Road, Thanjavur Road, Nelpettai Road, East Boulevard Road and Sub-Jail Road and have become a major traffic bottleneck. As a first step, Collector K.S.Palanisamy on Monday convened a meeting with representatives of various traders associations to discuss the issue.
A section of traders had been opposing the move on the ground that there was no prior consultation with them on the design or the location of the new facility. They observed a strike and downed shutters for a day in February last year contending that the shops at the new market were too small and not suitable for them. Traffic bottleneck Gandhi Market, established in 1940, has over 1,500 permanent and pavement shops on about 6.5 acres of land. Different sections such as the ‘vengaiya mandi,’ ‘vazhakai mandi,’ ‘vellamandi’ and the ‘pazha mandi’ spill over Madurai Road, Thanjavur Road, Nelpettai Road, East Boulevard Road and Sub-Jail Road and have become a major traffic bottleneck. As a first step, Collector K.S.Palanisamy on Monday convened a meeting with representatives of various traders associations to discuss the issue.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/Efforts-on-to-shift-traders-to-new-market/article17301941.ece
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