Traders perturbed

Vijayawada: Rajiv Gandhi wholesale vegetable and flower markets traders were perturbed over the unexpected shifting of their shops to other locations.

Keeping in view of the Krishna Pushkaralu, the district administration is exerting pressure on the traders to vacate the shops and shift to other places prior to Krishna Pushkaralu.

Due to shifting of markets hundreds of people may lose their livelihood for many weeks as it would take more time to restart the trading activities. The existing wholesale vegetable and flower markets were located near Pandit Nehru Bus Station and close to Vijayawada railway station.

The government decided to vacate 60 vegetable shops and 80 wholesale flower shops from the market. Vegetable traders were doing the business at the market since 60 years, while wholesale flower market was set up in 2004.

More than 500 hamalis, hundreds of farmers, nearly 200 workers and owners would be affected due to the shifting of the shops. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) leased the shops to the traders and collecting rents every month.

The VMC is asking the flower traders to shift their activity to the open site belonging to the VMC near the RTC workshop at Vidyadharapuram. But, the area has no basic amenities like power supply, tents and drinking water, said Sk Karimulla, a flower trader.

He said that the flower merchants had started business in 2004 in the existing market constructed by the VMC. He said shifting of shops is a huge task and it would take many weeks to restart the activity. He said that flowers are perishable and must be disposed within hours to avoid the losses.

He said the existing markets were located near the bus complex and railway station. Hence, it is easy to transport flowers to other places.

Another flower merchant Prasad Reddy said that the existing shops would not be a hurdle to the Krishna Pushkaralu. He said that the traders were ready to close the shops for two weeks during the Krishna Pushkaralu and would reopen the shops later.

The traders were alleging that the government was planning to use the land for the tourism development after vacating the shops.

D Nageswara Rao, a wholesale vegetable trader, said: “We are not against the development, but the government should follow some procedures.”

He said hundreds of families would be affected if the government shifts the shops suddenly. He said that hundreds of retail traders and hoteliers purchase vegetables from the wholesale vegetable market as it is centrally located in the city.

He expressed apprehensions that traders would lose their business if traders don’t come to Nunna market to buy vegetables.
He said that Nunna mango market belongs to private persons and they don’t allow them to run their business in their shops.

He said that there were no storage facilities in Nunna mango market as the officials were asking them to do business in the open space.

He expressed apprehensions that business activity would come down drastically if the shops were shifted to Nunna because there were no facilities to do business.

Leaders of two associations were busy meeting the people’s representatives and searching alternative sites to restart their business afresh after unexpected exit from the market.

The traders were saying that vegetable prices would shoot up due to increase in transport expenses after shifting the market to Nunna market.