Kukatpally Rythu bazaar to take 6 months RYTHU BAZZARS ARE ‘POORLY MAINTAINED’
Officials blame change of construction plans for delay
The Kukatpally Model Rythu bazaar that was to be ready in six months will take another six months to be ready. The alternative land to which the bazaar has been shifted is beside a sewage pool and below a flyover, which is hardly the place for a bazaar selling edible items, besides making it difficult for farmers who sell their produce here, to access.
About 400 farmers used to sell their produce in the old Kukatpally Rythu Bazaar; now there are about 150. The location beneath the Hitech city flyover has caused others to shift to other areas across the city as they have suffered a loss in customers and income.
Renovation of the Rythu bazaar began in August 2018. The farmers’ signatures were taken signalling their acceptance and promising that it would be ready in six months.
“I used to sell five boxes of tomatoes in a day in the old site, now it has come down to two boxes here, as not many customers come here. This place is almost deserted after six in the evening, as there are a lot of mosquitoes, which is further damaging our business,” said tomato farmer Ch Mallareddy, who has come from Vikarabad and has been staying here for the last two days hoping to sell all the produce he has brought with him.
The area allotted for the bazaar is open on both sides and the farmers have to rush to the middle whenever it rains. There are leaks everywhere, and an onion load was badly damaged. When rain water mixes with the vegetable waste, it creates a stink which makes things even more miserable for the sellers, said another farmer.
“The government is spending only on big things like industry, but they are ignoring small things. The condition of this vegetable market is horrible, but as I am a regular customer I still come to this place. Though this is a temporary set up, proper hygiene should be maintained at least, keeping the increasing viral fevers in mind,” said a customer K. Venkat, who had come to the Rythu bazaar with his six-year-old daughter.
When this paper contacted the concerned officials, they said that a change of construction plan was the reason for the delay. “We had not thought of constructing a cellar, but it was decided to add one and for this, rocky land has to be dug up which alone took a couple of months. Also, due to elections and the rains, the construction got delayed,” was the official’s excuse.
The new model Rythu bazaar is being constructed with a cellar, ground and first floor, along with canteen and cold storage facilities, and can accommodate 400 farmers. It is being built at a cost of `10 crore and is expected to be finished by March 2020.
The Rythu bazaars, financed by the state government, are meant for small-scale farmers with small holdings, who can sell their produce directly to customers without paying commission to exploitative middlemen. The Rythu bazaars are losing their clientele as slick super markets come up that are better maintained than the poorly maintained bazaars, lament the farmers who come from the districts to the city to sell their produce.
As of now, the city vegetable markets get three to five thousand customers throughout the day and slightly more on weekends.
Farmers come to sell their produce, and leave the markets only after their stock is sold out, which takes a day or two.
A farmer at the Erragadda market said he used to sell his stock within a day and not much was left over, “but these days we are not getting so many customers, so we are spending more time in the market to sell the produce, and even then some of it is wasted.”
The increase in accessible supermarkets and online delivery of vegetables has cut into the sale of fresh produce in markets, admits an official for the agricultural marketing department, “however, there are regular customers who keep visiting. It’s the new generation that is rarely visible in the markets.”
The farmers, though, attribute the drop in sale to the poor maintenance of market places.