C Shivakumar
Chennai:
Taps in Asia’s largest perishable goods wholesale market has gone dry for more than a decade and traders are surviving by using the borewell.
The wholesale market which has 2,108 shops does not have water supply for nearly a decade. Initially in the beginning we did get water but then the water connection was cut, said traders
When Express contacted Metro Water officials, they said that the traders did not pay water tax worth Rs two crore so the connections were disconnected.
“If the traders give in writing that they will pay the arrears then water connections will be restored,” says a Metro Water official.
Traders said if the Market Management Committee provides us with the water cards then we can pay the tax and there won’t be arrears.
But officials claim that such a measure can’t be taken as it will prove a headache to Metro water on how to tackle those who don’t pay the arrears.
A Metro Water official said the water can be restored if they give in writing that they will pay back the arrears.
Official sources in MMC suggested a new set of rules like taking away the licence of the shop if the shopowners fail to pay water tax. But while officials debate a way, the lack of water adds to the infrastructure woes of so called Asia’s largest perishable wholesale market
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