Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Locked market complex irks city traders

J.V. Siva Prasanna Kumar

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa inaugurated the facility, built at a cost of Rs.12.6 crore in Oct. this year The state-of-the art complex can house 314 shops

IMPRESSIVE: This modern Paddy Market Complex at Mattuthavani is waiting for traders to make it vibrant. — PHOTO: K. GANESAN

MADURAI: The newly constructed Paddy Market Complex at Mattuthavani here has remained a non-starter despite the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, inaugurating it more than a month ago. The Rs.12.6-crore project meant to benefit paddy, flower and fertilizer merchants in the city is kept locked, causing concern to traders.

The 9.03 acre-land for the project, acquired by the Madurai Agriculture Market Committee at a cost of Rs.4.5 crores from the Corporation, was utilised to construct the impressive and spacious complex at an estimated cost of Rs.12.6 crores by the Public Works Department. The Chief Minister inaugurated the facility in Chennai on October 27, 2005.

The complex boasts of modern facilities — an administrative office, canteen, weighbridge, security room, police booth, telephone exchange and a buffer godown.

Besides well-laid internal roads and a neat garden, the complex can accommodate 314 shops. Five bore wells cater to the water requirement. One hundred and fifty four shops are earmarked for paddy merchants, 100 for flower traders and 60 for fertilizer dealers.

The project was originally conceived to decongest the arterial Nelpettai, Simmakkal, Old Prison area and other places around Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple where the volume of vehicular traffic is unusually high. Further, the shifting of paddy, flower and fertilizer shops from around the temple will provide ample scope to take up beautification plans.

The shops will be handed over to the merchants on a hire-purchase scheme.

Already they had paid 15 per cent of the sum at a rate of Rs.940 per sq.ft as advance and the remainder should be paid in 100 monthly instalments. Thereafter, the shops become the sole property of the occupants.

The merchants have formed `United Paddy, Flower and Fertiliser Merchants Association' and obtained a court order directing that no new trader should be allotted a slot save those who were members of the body.

Traders ready

E. Perumal, president of the association, told The Hindu that the members were prepared to pay the entire cost of the project in a single instalment, provided the complex was handed over to them by the Agriculture Market Committee at the earliest. They were even ready to occupy shops from January 1. Conceived in 1994, the construction commenced in 2003 and was completed this year, he said.

The secretary, Pookadai Ramachandran, and treasurer P. Mahalingam claimed business would be slack for the first six months after relocating to Mattuthavani, but later it would pick up because the complex would emerge as a hub for wholesale trade in the city. They sought the establishment of a road at the rear of the complex to facilitate easy movement of lorries and thereby avoid congestion at Mattuthavani.

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