The Kallikudi market that had not received any patronage from the traders was opened for public and as many as 351 shops out of 830 started sale of vegetables, fruits and flowers on Monday. Most of the traders did not want to move from the present Gandhi market.
District Collector S Sivarasu inaugurating the Kallikudi wholesale market
Thiruchirapalli:
In order to decongest Gandhi market which is located in the middle of the City, the district administration had constructed an exclusive wholesale market at Kallikudi in the outskirts of the district and was plannedthree years back with as many as 830 shops in an area of 10 acre of land.
However, citing distance, the wholesale traders from Gandhi market did not want to move and so many shops were not leased out. In such a backdrop, the traders have been organising a series of protests demanding to allow them to do business in the existing Gandhi market and they even approached the court. The district administration issued strict warning to traders to move to the Kallikudi market. This had led the new market to lie idle for three years.
Meanwhile, out of the total of 830 shops as many as 207 shops were allotted to the farmers to sell their farm products a few months back and among the 207 shops, as many as 126 shops were opened on Monday by the District Collector S Sivarasu. Similarly among the remaining 623 shops allotted for the traders, as many as 225 shops were inaugurated on Monday.
In the meantime, the wholesale traders from Gandhi market who approached the court had received the orders to continue to do business in the same market and so they demanded the district collector to open the market by September 28 when the Koyembedu market in Chennai is scheduled to open.