Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Corporation to move High Court for modernisation of Pangode fish market

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City Corporation is planning to move the High Court against a verdict directing the local body to relocate the wholesale fish market at Pangode.

The Corporation is simultaneously working on a major regeneration project aimed at improving the facilities at the complex and controlling the environmental pollution caused to the local populace. Civic authorities said the work was expected to take off in a month. “It will be a time-bound project to be completed in a year. After the contract is awarded, we propose to approach the High Court seeking permission to implement the project,” a senior civic functionary said.

The Corporation has been given one year to carry out the verdict.

The proposed modernisation of the market has been bogged down for more than two years after repeated attempts to tender the project had to be aborted in the absence of any takers. One of the major impediments to the project was cleared recently after the Government intervened to sanction excess funds to cover the hike in cost of construction materials.

Earlier, an ownership dispute between the Corporation and the Revenue Department over 36 cents of land identified for the development of the existing market had discouraged construction firms from bidding for the work. The matter was sorted out after protracted negotiations.

In 2005, the Government had approved the blueprint for a modernisation project to be taken up under the Capital Region Development Programme. The project estimated to cost Rs.8 crore involved a total redesign of the market complex on the lines of the Jurong fish market in Singapore.

The blueprint included the construction of auction lots for wholesalers, retail shops, ice crusher units, delivery docks for fish trucks, effluent treatment plant, refrigeration facility, sand shops, dormitories for workers, office rooms, conference hall and a food court. One of the major features of the project was a modern effluent treatment system with drainage facilities.

The proposal was later scaled down after civic officials and senior Corporation functionaries questioned the need for a project of this magnitude. The High Court order was based on a petition filed by local people highlighting the unsanitary conditions in the market.

Ever since the market was shifted from Palayam to Pangode in 1986, local inhabitants have been protesting against the pollution and overpowering stench from rotten fish wastes. With no treatment facilities, the foul-smelling wastes are simply drained out on to the roads from where they flow into the Killi river. With the market occupying just 20 cents of land, the vendors spread out on to the road, creating chaotic traffic conditions on a key route which also services the military camp. Residents in the neighbourhood feel that modernising the Pangode market would be meaningless since it would only add to the traffic congestion of the Kochar Road which is being developed as a bypass to the MG Road.

The Edappazhanji- Pangode Pradesika Samithy, which spearheads the agitation against the plant, says the project is impractical given the space constraints in the market.

The Samithy has suggested the World Market Complex at Venpalavattom on the Kovalam- Kazhakuttam National Highway bypass as an ideal location for the fish market in view of its proximity to the Veli lake, Kochuveli railway station and the international airport.

However, Corporation officials feel that the proposal is impractical since the suggested location is in the flying path of the airport. They maintain that scavenging birds attracted by the smell of fish would pose a danger to aircraft.

Chairman of the Corporation’s standing committee on Health G.R. Anil said the Fisheries Department had committed Rs.15 lakh for improving the facilities in the market. Mr. Anil said the Corporation was keeping its legal options open. “In the event of the High Court rejecting our petition, we will move the Supreme Court,” he said.

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