The Hindu : Central Market stall owners down shutters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 25, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

Central Market stall owners down shutters

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, MARCH 24. Stall owners at the Central Market here downed shutters today in protest against the alleged chaotic conditions in the market.

A protest meeting that commenced at 6 a.m. continued till 11 a.m. Though the meeting ended later, the market remained closed for the day.

The merchants closed the gates of the market and blocked the market road.

Traffic was disrupted for more than two hours. They vacated the road following requests by the police.

However, they continued their protest by staging a dharna in front of the market.

Addressing the merchants, the general secretary of the Central Market Merchants' Association, Haji Hamid Kandak, said the merchants who were carrying on their legitimate business inside the market were made to return empty handed because of roadside vendors.

The roadside vendors did not pay the market tax or maintenance fees but sold their produce without any problem with the connivance of the Mangalore City Corporation authorities and the police, he alleged. If this situation continued, there would be no organised market in the city. The market was not being maintained properly and many stalls were in a dilapidated condition. The situation would go from bad to worse whenever it rained.

There were no proper water and toilet facilities in the market, Mr. Kandak said.

He said the market lacked a vehicle-parking zone and the traffic police unnecessarily booked drivers of taxis and goods vehicles that arrived there from other districts.

Presenting a charter of eight demands of merchants, he said they were reasonable. If the city corporation conceded their demands the market would become a model for other cities.

The demands included removal of one-way traffic from the Kalpana Sweets shop to the Janata Juice shop and from Roopavani cinema to the Kalpana Sweets shop; regulating autorickshaw parking; shifting the garbage dumping yard behind the Lady Goshen Hospital and setting up a police outpost there; establishing a parking zone at the southern tip of Bibi Alabi Road; and regulating parking on first cross of Maidaan Road.

He said if the city corporation did not act on their demands, the merchants would stop paying the rentals to it and close the market.

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