The more-than-a-decade-old move of Mangaluru City Corporation to demolish and re-construct the Central Market in the heart of the city is heading towards a reality with the civic body commencing demolition of two six-decade-old vegetable and fish market buildings on Wednesday.
Armed with an order of the Urban Development Department issued on Tuesday, which permitted demolition, the corporation went about bringing down the buildings to pave way for Mangaluru Smart City Ltd. (MSCL) to re-construct a new modern market building for the civic body under the Smart City Mission.
The demolition and re-construction proposal witnessed several ups and downs with the matter even reaching the High Court of Karnataka.
It was in 2008-2009 that the then Standing Committee for Town Planning and Improvement of the corporation, headed by K. Naveenchandra, and the city corporation council, led by the then Mayor Ganesh Hosabettu, first proposed to demolish the old buildings to reconstruct a new one.
But the corporation put the proposal on hold for paucity of funds. The council, with Harinath as Mayor, gave approval to the proposal on June 29, 2016. The State Level High Powered Steering Committee, headed by the Chief Secretary, approved it on September 22, 2018. Later, the Public Works Department in its report on March 23, 2020 recommended demolition of the buildings stating that they were no more fit for occupancy.
Meanwhile, the corporation completely closed down the market on April 7, 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
After some traders moved the High Court questioning it, the court on August 10, 2020 directed the city corporation to withdraw its order of closure and re-start the process of demolition and re-construction afresh as per law.
Following this, the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada issued an order on August 18, 2020 closing down the market again to prevent the spread of COVID-19. When the traders again moved court, it stayed the Deputy Commissioner’s order while hearing the Writ Petition.
The court, while hearing another Writ Petition, ordered the corporation to conduct a deep study on the fitness and capacity of the buildings and submit a report.
Later, Enstrutura Consultants Pvt. Ltd., hired by the corporation as a third party agency, in its November 10, 2020 report, submitted that the buildings were not fit for occupancy as they were in poor condition. The report said that the buildings were also not fit for renovation. It recommended their demolition and reconstruction.
Again, the city corporation council, in its meetings on December 2, 2020 and on December 31, 2020, resolved to demolish the buildings and reconstruct a new market building.