Kallikudi integrated vegetable market open for business

The 10 acre integrated vegetable and fruit market in Kallikudi village near Manikandam situated over the Trichy-Madurai stretch of NH 45B was thrown open for business on Saturday. Established as a replacement for congested Gandhi market in heart of the city, the integrated market is touted to serve as hub exclusively for wholesale vegetable and fruit traders attracting hundreds of heavy vehicles each day from central districts.
Earlier as Trichy district administration with an objective to decongest Gandhi market proposed an integrated market facility at an estimated cost of Rs 77 crores. After securing financial aid from Nabard, the construction works for integrated vegetable and fruit market in Kallikudi, the city outskirts sprawling for 9.7 acres commenced in 2014. Though the works apparently completed and facility was formally inaugurated in September 2017, the resistance from traders in existing market to shift their hub citing limited space in new market delayed the dedicated opening of integrated facility for use.
Subsequently, after making structural modification works in January 2018 as sought by traders seeking additional space, the last three months saw agriculture business and agriculture marketing department officials identifying 300 wholesale traders for phase I of relocation. “We have provided keys to as many as 250 traders and remaining would be provided shortly after completing the formalities. As district administration has banned the entry of heavy vehicles carrying vegetables inside Gandhi market, we expect more traders to make use of the integrated market facility,” an official source said. The integrated market was inaugurated on Saturday by MP P Kumar and state ministers Vellamandi N Natarajan and S Valarmathi in the presence of district collector K Rajaman

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