Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) & MLA Vedavyas Kamath’s Gift of Temporary Aluminum/Tin Covered Sheds to Retailers of Central Market is Now a Boon to Homeless, Street Vendors, Alcoholics, Destitute and Stray Dogs. Even two-wheelers have been parked inside these sheds- what a joke? And during the recent gusty winds, mixed with heavy rains have blown away the roofs or knocked down a few sheds. A total waste of taxpayers money, spent on a project without proper planning and thinking. Not a SMART idea for a SMART CITY?
Mangaluru: When immigrants come to their hometown, Mangaluru from Gulf and other countries, they will have to shell out from Rs 2500-Rs 4500 on a hotel room per day as part of their 7-14 days quarantine- but on the other hand, the low-wage migrants and beggars are the lucky ones, since they don’t have to pay anything for their ‘Quarantine Places”, since the recently temporary tin/metal roofed sheds put up by Mangaluru City Corporation come handy for these nomads/wanderers- who have made Mangaluru as their hometown, during the pandemic.
When the wholesale traders were shifted from the old location of Central Market which used to be in the heart of the city, to Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Yard in Baikampady, in the outskirts of Mangaluru on 4 April 2020- and also the veg and fruit retailers and other businesses who were operating their businesses in the old building were ordered to move out, due to congestion of space which abuses the guidelines of COVID-19- and also that Mangaluru City Corporation has plans to demolish the old Central Market and build a state-of-the-art new Central Market, in the meantime, the retail merchants who had no place to continue their business, and having no income had held a protest on 6 May 2020, near Lady Goschen Hospital demanding that they are provided places so that they could earn their living, until the temporary market is built in a few months.
Sheds Damaged due to recent Gusty Winds & Rain
In response to the demands placed before the Mangaluru City Corporation during the protest, MCC Mayor Diwakar Pandeshwar, MLA Vedavyas Kamath, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and other officials obliged to their certain demands, and for the time being, to earn their living the administration has installed temporary aluminium sheet covered sheds, for the benefit of these retailers. (Ref: MCC provides Sheds for Retail Merchants of Original Central Market til Temporary Central Market is Built). These sheds had been put up near the Indira Canteen, where it has been a parking lot for tempos, mini trucks for decades; near Town Hall compound wall; and along the street adjacent to Lady Goschen Hospital. However, when the temporary sheds were ready for use, the retail vendors were reluctant to start their trade in these sheds, citing that the sheds were not appropriate to do business, and water would leak inside during monsoons, among many other reasons.
Homeless seen Gambling and Consuming Alcohol in the morning
And since nearly three months, these temporary sheds have been lying empty, with no one using them-thus resulting in tax-payers money going down the drain, on a project not put into use. Noting that the sheds were not put into use, out of town migrants, destitute and homeless have happily made these sheds as their “Home Quarantine?” places. The sheds have come handy for them to stay dry when it pours. Some of them have even put up beds to have a good-night sleep. A few of them are making use of the sheds to play cards, or you could call it GAMBLING. A few are seen consuming alcohol early in the morning or seen fallen drunk at night. Lucky are those out of town street vendors, who have made use of these sheds to sell their products- apart from vegetables/fruits, a few vendors are selling cutlery items, fancy items, plastic items etc- all FREE of any RENT? Even the beggars/destitute are seen using the sheds. Apart from human beings, you could also see stray dogs happily enjoying their sleeping time inside the sheds.
Just wondering if the concerned authorities of MCC or the District Administration are aware of this pathetic situation taking place at these temporary sheds, where these nomads/beggars are not maintaining social distancing, many of them not wearing face masks, with total lack of hygiene among them. You can see these people drinking alcohol and throwing empty bottles/packets, chew paan/gutka and spit around, and also dirty the surroundings with empty food containers/cups etc. How can the district authorities allow these wanderers/destitute roam freely, who totally don’t follow in COVID-19 guidelines when we are seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases every single day. Why are our officials, including MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLA Vedavyas Kamath, District Minister-in-charge Kota Srinivas Poojary, and our new Deputy Commissioner Dr K V Rajendra, among others turning a blind eye towards this issue?
With a rising number of positive coronavirus cases in the City every day, but none of the officials has taken any measures in providing shelter, food or other COVID-19 essentials to these homeless and migrants. And with many of these migrants/homeless not adhering to social distancing, not wearing masks etc, we are looking into more virus cases spreading. With coronavirus sending people into isolation and public establishments shutting down, these people are facing a hard time finding food. Earlier an NGO was serving food, but with certain restrictions from the MCC and district administration, the community service was stopped. While the NGO did put in great efforts to care for these nomads, but none of our authorities are doing a damn thing about the misery faced by these nomads. Many of these homeless could die of hunger soon if no action is taken by the concerned authorities. (Ref: HUNGER KILLS! Middle-aged Homeless Man Found Dead in Auto-rickshaw Park in City due to HUNGER! )
And with two High Court stay orders on the temporary Central Market, and also on the construction of the new Central Market, (Ref: 2 High Court Stay Orders from 2 Parties Could Delay the Upcoming Project of New Central Market), and also that the temporary sheds are of no use, just look at the amount of money that has been wasted until now, and none of these Netas and other authorities gives a damn about it!
