While the mall culture is gripping every nook and corner of urban areas, there are still people who have to eke out their living by selling vegetables on footpaths amid unhygienic conditions.
The condition of the Mandya vegetable market is a perfect example, where vendors have to do business with heaps of garbage around them.Most of the vendors spread their shops on the road near the railway line where an open drain runs.
There is an old building to sell vegetables, but the shops there are in a pathetic condition with the plaster on the roof falling and posing danger. Hence, these shops are not used and the vendors have locked them and do business outside, bearing the brunt of hot sun and rain. They cover their makeshift shop with plastic sheets as they have no other options as water gets into their produce when it rains heavily.
As they spread their shops on footpath and roads, it causes inconvenience to vehicle users, who negotiate the traffic as well do their shopping, sometimes making way for mishaps.
Shifting
News shops have been constructed near the old taluk office, but the vendors are not interested to do business here as there is no place for parking. “There are no takers for our products there,” says one of the traders. The scene is pathetic during rainy season as the whole place turns slushy, causing great hardships.
The consumers too are forced to buy vegetables walking in the slush.Discussion on constructing a new vegetable market has become a mandatory agenda on all meetings held by netas and babus, without no outcome. A special fund of Rs 30 crore was released in 2010, but has not been used so far. It is said that another Rs 30 crore will be released now. Will the authorities concerned pull up their socks to find a permanent solution to the vegetable market?, is the question haunting the locals here.