VIJAYAWADA : Wholesale traders, who have been refusing to shift their business operations to the Gollapudi wholesale market facility, seem to be losing their options one after the other. Mahatma Gandhi Wholesale Commercial Complex Society secretary Apana Rajagopala Rao, who represents 18 trade associations, on Saturday, submitted a letter to District Collector Navin Mittal asking time till December 10 to shift their operations to the Gollapudi facility in the suburbs of the city.

Time was sought in the wake of a show-cause notice served by the district administration asking why the new market complex should not be reverted to agricultural use. In an unexpected move on Tuesday, Mr. Mittal slapped the show-cause notice on the society. Traders, who kept postponing relocation of their operations with one pretext or the other for over 15 months, had to concede and move out of the city.

In a second blow, the High Court vacated the stay it granted on transport operators' appeal seeking exemption from the relocation along with other wholesale dealers. With this, the transport operators will also have to shift and cannot offer their services to the wholesale dealers if any one of them decides to stay back in the city.

The idea to develop a wholesale market facility in the suburbs of the city to reduce traffic congestion in One Town area was mooted in 1978 by then Municipal Commissioner A.V.S Reddy.

Though land was earmarked for the purpose, there was no progress in developing the market facility because of a technical problem.

The traders could not construct shops until the Government changed the land use of the site from agricultural to commercial.

Differences

The land was converted from agricultural to commercial as part of a Rs 300-crore package to develop Vijayawada city in preparation for the Krishna Pushkaram in 2004. The construction of the market facility with 500 shops in nearly 30 acres at a cost of Rs 50 crores was completed in time and was inaugurated by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on August 9, 2004. But subsequently differences cropped up amongst the trades and many of them refused to move to the new facility.

Mr Rajagopal Rao said in the letter to the Collector that all traders would move on December 10. The association would support any action proposed by the authorities against those who did not shift their business operations after that.

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