Merchants see red over Kozhikode Corpn.’s move to shift Palayam Market to Kalluthankadavu

The Kozhikode Corporation is going up with its program to displacement the Palayam rootlike and fruits marketplace successful the bosom of the metropolis to the recently constructed gathering analyzable astatine Kalluthankadavu connected the outskirts by this month-end, successful spite of the absorption from a conception of merchants.

According to corp officials, the caller market, constructed by a backstage institution nether a build-operate-and-transfer agreement, volition beryllium opened by the 3rd week of this month. Meanwhile, a coordination committee of traders is readying to instrumentality retired a march with their families to the corp bureau connected October 8 to registry their protest.

A.T. Abdu, 1 of the functionaries of the coordination committee, told The Hindu on Sunday (October 5) that the corp would displacement lone the 153 licensed merchants successful its ain gathering successful the marketplace to the caller place. “There are hundreds of different merchants who person been functioning successful different backstage buildings wrong the aforesaid area. They volition person to ammunition retired a large magnitude connected their ain if they request abstraction successful the caller market,” helium pointed out.

Both Mayor Beena Philip and Deputy Mayor C.P. Musafar Ahmed told the media precocious that each the merchants astatine Palayam and the thoroughfare vendors would beryllium relocated to the caller market. All the 153 licensed merchants astatine the corp gathering would beryllium provided shops astatine Kalluthankadavu without immoderate beforehand rent. For the adjacent 2 years, the rent would not beryllium hiked too. There are a full of 380 rooms astatine the caller place. After relocating each the 153 merchants, the backstage institution that constructed the gathering analyzable would beryllium allowed to springiness distant the remainder of the rooms to others connected rent. The corp authorities besides claimed that the rent astatine the gathering had been fixed astatine ₹80 per sq. metre truthful that the merchants bash not incur further fiscal burden.

However, a bulk of the licensed merchants, who are members of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi, boycotted the gully of tons process held connected October 3 to allocate shops astatine the caller market. A protestation was besides taken retired to the caller premises nether the aegis of the coordination committee connected the aforesaid day. Corporation officials claimed that 9 merchants received documents for the caller shops, portion 15 others had expressed their inability to be the process.