‘Even If MCC Don’t Charge Us Rent We Won’t Move to the Shops in the New Kavoor Market’ – Roadside Vendors near Kavoor Junction against the Mayor’s Orders to Shift to New Kavoor Market within a week or face severe action
Mangaluru: When it comes to the new markets constructed by Mangaluru City Corporation in recent years, there have been lots of problems and misunderstandings between the MCC officials and the traders. Even after the new Urwa market was built and inaugurated a few years ago, the traders are reluctant to move into the new facility and are continuing their business at their earlier spot while the Urwa market remains mostly empty, with only a few businesses occupying the space. Similarly has been the case of the new Alake market, where petty shop owners are not ready to move in due to high rent and deposit.
And now similar has been with the case of the newly built market where the traders who have been doing their business at the Kavoor junction are happy where they are now and don’t want to move even after MCC Mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannuir had given an order that they have to shift to the new Kavoor market within a week. More than four years after a modern market-cum-commercial complex of the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) at Kavoor was inaugurated, it remains unoccupied prompting Mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannur to instruct the corporation Commissioner C.L. Anand to give a one-week deadline to persons concerned to occupy the space allotted to them or withdraw the allotment. It is learnt that 90% of space at Kavoor market remains unoccupied:
After inspecting the building, the Mayor addressing the reporters said that only 10% of the space allotted by the civic body has been occupied. Shetty said that he instructed the Commissioner to serve notices to all those persons who have been allotted the space and have not occupied it. If they do not occupy the shops within a week, the corporation should take steps to cancel the allotment. The Mayor said that many persons who hired the shops at the market building are doing business outside on the roadside near Kavoor Junction. They say that customers do not come to the market building for shopping as it is about 300 m away from the junction.
“If they stop doing business on the roadside, customers will come to the market building,” he said, and added: “If the traders refuse to budge the civic body will evict them from the roadside after warning them. The corporation will demolish their temporary structures on the roadside. Some have even taken power connections to those temporary structures.” The government had invested Rs 5.2 crore in the complex which has a basement plus three floors. It was the second modern market built in the city, after the Bejai market, with the provision for 57 commercial shops.
VENDORS AT PRESENT DOING THEIR BUSINESS NEAR THE KAVOOR JUNCTION ROADSIDE…..
Of them, the lower ground and upper ground floors have 42 shops, while the first floor has the remaining 15 shops. The area of the 57 commercial shops varies from 150 sq ft to 200 sq ft. The basement has a provision for parking 16 cars and two-wheelers. It was the first market built in the city with the provision for a sewage treatment plant with a 10,000-litre processing capacity and a biodegradable waste crusher unit. The unit was to crush non-vegetarian and vegetable waste as fine particles and flush it into the drain to join the STP.
The lower ground floor is meant for the vegetable market while the upper ground floor is for non-vegetarian stalls with a provision for 12 fish stalls, two egg stalls, and a stall each for selling dry fish, chicken, and mutton. The then Urban Development Minister U.T. Khader inaugurated it on February 17, 2019, with a foundation stone laid by then-minister Ramanath Rai in 2016.
Usman Moideen, running a vegetable shop by the Kavoor junction roadside said, ” Yes, we have been warned to shift our shops to the new market. But we have a feeling that no customers will climb the first floor in the new market to buy vegetables/fruits when it is convenient for them to shop on the ground floor or by the roadside. And even if MCC charges less rent or less deposit or even if they don’t charge us rent, we won’t budge from here, because we know we will have no customers there and will have to drive away flies and mosquitoes. We will stage a protest through our street vendors association if we are forced to evict from here”.
However, presently only a few businesses have occupied the space in the new Kavoor market. I wonder if the lifts/elevators are still in working condition. The basement of the market is filled with garbage and few stray dogs are using the facility as shelter. This shows how unscientifically MCC plans its projects thereby wasting taxpayers’ money, going down the drain. Hope a suitable solution and compromise is reached between the MCC officials and these traders so that the Rs 5 crore plus market is put into running and made the best of it, rather than allow it to rot for more years.