Koyambedu traders fear loss of business during Pongal

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

The festival of lights may not have fetched the traders in Koyambedu Fuits and Vegetable Market enough profit this season but the fear of losing out their sizable business during Pongal is causing a lot of anxiety among the community.

During Deepavali, the service roads were clogged as the state government in a bid to clear the festival rush had parked State Transport Corporation buses making it nearly impossible for the trucks carrying vegetables, fruits and flowers to enter the market.

And traders fear that if a similar measure is being repeated in Pongal, it would be chaos.

G S Balasubramanian, a retail trader says that although the traders did not want the market be converted to a bus stand for state transport corporation buses, they agreed because they felt that during the festival the consumption of mutton would be more than the vegetables.

But Pongal is a different ball game. “During this festival it is only vegetables that are consumed,” he says.

The market attracts a huge crowd during the season besides there would be innumerable number of trucks entering the market carrying sugarcane. “There would be anywhere between 2,000 trucks arriving at the market on a single day besides more than thousands of smaller vehicles,” he said.

“If the key service roads are sealed with the parking of state transport corporation buses, the trucks would find it difficult to enter the market thus affecting the businesses worth crores,” said another trader who did not want to be quoted.

“The transport department should start right now looking at alternative site instead of focusing on Koyambedu market which is a commercial area,” said Balasubramaniam.

“If the same traffic arrangement is followed during Pongal, the prices of vegetables will escalate as the arrival of goods to the market would be affected due to traffic chaos,” said another trader.

Interestingly, this year also the Marketing Management Committee is planning to auction space for sale of sugarcanes. “We are expecting nearly 1,000 trucks of sugarcane this season,” a MMC source said.

Interestingly, with Metro rail work going on in one end and with the state transport buses eating away the other part of service road, it seems Koyambedu market will be cut off this Pongal putting to risk the business of the traders.

A trader said that the government now has nearly two months to fix an alternate spot so that business in the market could be carried out as usual.