The council of the Mangaluru City Corporation in its meeting here on Wednesday resolved to demolish the two old Central Market buildings and build a modern vegetable and fish market building.
Mangaluru Smart City Ltd. (MSCL) will reconstruct the new market building under the Smart City Mission.
An agenda tabled in the meeting on the subject said that the two existing buildings which are about 50 years old are in poor condition and are in such a state that they cannot be repaired.
There is a need to re-construct the market building with all infrastructure for the benefit of people and to increase the revenue of the corporation.
The existing traders in the buildings have been served notices with regard to the demolition and reconstruction. Commissioner of the corporation Akshy Sridhar told the council that an independent consulting agency, Enstructura Consultants Private Ltd., hired by the corporation, has submitted a report that the buildings are fit for demolition.
Leader of the Opposition in the council Abdul Rauf said that many traders who were doing business in the Central Market have been put to trouble after the market was closed down eight months ago due to the COIVD-19 restrictions. Hence, the existing traders in the market and all others who were doing business there earlier should be rehabilitated.
The market had 470 traders pre-lockdown. In addition, many others were leading their life being indirectly dependent on Central Market.
Thus, it was providing employment to about 3,000 persons. There is a need to accommodate all the 470 traders elsewhere after the demolition of the two buildings, he said.
Whip in the council Premananda Shetty told the meeting that the ward offices of the corporation at Lady Hill, Mannagudda Gurji and at Gandhinagar will be re-built in the first phase, as they are in poor condition. It has also been proposed to reconstruct the ward offices in Bunder, Port and near the old bus stand later.
The new ward offices will have rooms for men and women civic workers, drinking water facility, toilets and bathrooms, storerooms as per the guidelines issued by Karnataka Commission for Safai Karmacharis.
Published - December 03, 2020 12:31 am IST
