GHMC moots shutdown of weekly markets

​Hyderabad: Meenakshi Shailender Kumar of West Marredpally, Ratnakumari of Sainathpuram and Haseena Begum of Toli Chowk just need to hop out of their house to get their weekly quota of veggies.

Thanks to the weekly vegetable markets that prop up without fail at various points in city. An efficient system that has taken root in the city but if the mandarins of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have their say, the weekly rendezvous with the vegetable vendor may well become history.

A whopping 30,000 vegetable vendors and over a crore population who have an amicable relationship will go for a toss as the GHMC is contemplating to shut down the weekly markets.

The reason: Weekly markets are making the city dirty. However, customers have a different opinion to express. Revathy, a home maker at Tarnaka said, “The roads are cleaned the next morning and we have no problems.

If the markets are shut, we would have to shell out more money in super markets.” Vendors procure vegetables directly from the farmers and as a result are able to sell them at a cheap price.

K Subramanian, a resident of Tarnaka says, “This is nothing but a sell-out to the corporate.” A Raja Lingam, a 60-year-old retired government employee, said the weekly markets have been providing fresh vegetables at least Rs 2 to Rs 5 cheaper than that in the market.

The resident of Samata colony said the weekly market held at Seven Tombs Road has been saving a lot of time. He said if the weekly markets were shut down the residents have to travel all the way to Mehdipatnam to purchase vegetables at higher prices.

Echoing his concern, B Jagadeesh, a private employee working in a corporate company, said: “In my absence at least family members can purchase them as the market is a few metres away from my residence.”

Highly placed sources in the corporation said that a standing committee member during a recent meeting proposed to clear all weekly markets in the city.

Sources also said that the member has claimed that the weekly markets were making city untidy and have been affecting local businesses and citizens.

The sources also said that the other members in the committee did not agree with the member’s proposal. However, they said that the issue would be tabled and discussed in the next standing committee meeting on Thursday.