Retailers at Mahanti Fish Market oppose relocation proposal, say it will cost their livelihood

Mahanti Fish Market in Vijayawada faces relocation proposal by VMC due to traffic issues, sparking debate among workers and sellers.

On a hot afternoon, workers and sellers at the cramped and cluttered Mahanti Fish Market in Vijayawada are busy with their tasks — sorting, washing and chopping different kinds of fish, prawns and other seafood.

With afternoons not being the busiest, sellers squeeze out a few minutes from their work to talk about the recent developments at the market. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has once again put forth the proposal to relocate the famous market from its current address of Besant Road.

According to information from the corporation, the shifting is being done to address traffic issues caused by the loading and unloading of vehicles at the market, which has reportedly become a cause of inconvenience for the public, and to ensure safety of the people since the structure enclosing the market, established in 1943, is in a dilapidated condition. The VMC has proposed to shift the market to Vambay Colony.

The VMC proposals have not been received well by retailers in the market, who find themselves at odds with the wholesalers. While the wholesalers are in support of the proposal, the retailers say this will affect the livelihood of 300 families.

P. Mahesh, a retailer here for two decades, said that it is unfair on part of the corporation to consider a relocation of the market because of the traffic woes. “When the market started, there were no shopping malls on Besant Road. There was no traffic either. Why should we be blamed for the traffic problems on the Besant Road?” asks Mahesh, aged 42, who is also a member of the VMC Retail Workers’ Sangham. Before he came into the business, his mother was running a stall here.

“Many of us here are not educated. As a kid, I used to carry lunch boxes for my mother and stay at the market all day. I have spent most of my life here. If the market is shifted from Besant Road, I will lose all my customers. Why would anyone come to Vambay Colony, 10-15 km away from their places, to buy one or two kilogram of fish?,” said Mahesh.

Another retailer, Chanti, who has been in the business for three decades, said that since Besant Road was close to the bus stand, people came from nearby towns also on weekends. The overall business on weekends touches ₹50 lakh and on weekdays, it is around ₹10-₹15 lakh. He said that around 300-500 people visit the market in a day. Mahanti is the go-to market for seafood in the city, and goods come here from Machilipatnam and Nizampatnam.