Vegetable traders in Coimbatore oppose move to shift wholesale market to Vellalore

Vegetable traders in Coimbatore oppose move to shift wholesale market to Vellalore

Majority of the wholesale vegetable traders, who have shops at MGR market and TK market in Coimbatore city, have opposed the move by the Coimbatore Corporation to shift the wholesale markets in Vellalore.

At a meeting held with the Corporation officials on Friday, the traders said the vegetable markets required larger area and could not be operated near the Vellalore dump yard.

According to one of the onion traders who took part in the meeting, the MGR market renovation work has come to a standstill and the traders are willing to move out if the new location is not Vellalore. There are 112 traders at the MGR market and they need at least 20 acres to have a proper wholesale market. The land identified at Vellalore is 62 acres and only 5.5 acres is allocated for the vegetable traders. The plan is to have the vegetable and fruit traders and the lorry pettai on the premises, which is close to the dump yard. Hence, the traders are not willing to shift, he said.

M. Rajendran, president of the TK market vegetable traders association, said the association was demanding a wholesale market on the lines of the Koyambedu market for a long time. The current area of the TK market was more than six acres. Hence, a larger area that was not close to the Vellalore dump yard was needed for the wholesale vegetable traders.

“We discussed the pros and cons with the traders, and their demands will be presented to the Corporation Commissioner for a final decision,” said a senior Corporation official.