Rains damage Batasingaram fruit market

HYDERABAD: All hell broke loose at the temporary fruit market established at Batasingaram on Friday morning, as rainwater entered the sheds erected to accommodate the displaced fruit dealers and commission agents from Gaddiannaram Fruit Market (Kothapet fruit market).

Tonnes of fruits were washed away in the rainwater, even as farmers and workers tried in vain to save them. The heavy rain combined with strong winds damaged the temporary sheds. Fruits which were stocked in heaps in open areas across the market got exposed to the heavy rain.

The farmers tried their best to cover the fruits with tarpaulin sheets, but to no avail. Md Tajuddin, president of one of the unions of commission agents, told Express that there were no facilities provided in the temporary market at Batasingaram. Recalling how the State government had demolished the Gaddiannaram Fruit Market despite the High Court’s directions not to relocate those carrying their business operations there, he said that the plight of farmers and businessmen dependent on the fruit market was pathetic. 

The farmers and commission agents faced a similar situation in 2020 during the pandemic when the marketing officials had tried to relocate the fruit market from Kothapet to Koheda. A hailstorm had ravaged the temporarily erected sheds in Koheda causing damage in crores of rupees after which the business was shifted back to the Gaddiannaram market.