Integrated vegetable and grocery market to come up at Solar in Erode at ₹18.48 crore

An integrated vegetable and grocery market with 794 retail shops, three storage godowns, and a canteen block is set to come up at Solar in Erode district at a total cost of ₹18.48 crore.

An integrated vegetable and grocery market with 794 retail shops, three storage godowns, and a canteen block is set to come up at Solar in Erode district at a total cost of ₹18.48 crore.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, over 580 shops that had been functioning at the Nethaji Vegetable and Fruit Market complex on R.K.V. Road for several years was relocated to the V.O.C. Park Ground premises.

The existing complex was demolished and a new building was constructed at a cost of ₹29.85 crore with 268 shops. All 700 traders, however, could not be accommodated there, and the corporation converted it into a commercial complex.

The civic body, as a result, planned to establish a vegetable and grocery market complex near the new bus terminal at Solar, and a proposal was submitted to the State government.

The Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department issued a Government Order 466, dated August 30, 2024, giving administrative sanction for the construction of the market at Solar in the corporation-owned land.

The G.O. said Erode is one of the fastest-growing industrialised districts in the State and stands fifth in terms of the number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The civic body planned to take up the construction of the complex with an objective to develop a market convenient for selling all items with basic infrastructure, improved circulation, accessibility, and customer friendly atmosphere, it said.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, during his visit to Pollachi on March 13, 2024, had announced that a new integrated complex would come up at Solar. The civic body submitted a proposal for establishing the market at a cost of ₹22 crore and after discussions, the cost was brought down to ₹18.48 crore.