Vegetable traders in Coimbatore seek better infrastructure at MGR market

The State Highways Department (NH Wing) plans to start work in three or four months for a flyover at the junction near Saibaba Temple on Mettupalayam road. For the vegetable traders at MGR market, which is located nearby, the period during construction of the flyover could be challenging as the market gets vegetables in lorries from different parts of the country and hundreds of traders visit it every day.

An official of the Highways Department said the flyover, for nearly one km, will take almost a year for completion.

According to traders at the market, which was started in 1998 and has 112 shops, smaller vendors and retail sellers visit the market any time of the day. “This is a market that functions for almost 24 hours a day. More than 1,000 buyers visit it daily,” an onion trader said. The market gets almost 400 tonnes of vegetables every day. A lorry carries 18-20 tonnes and these vehicles enter the market to unload the goods. The vendors and retail sellers come from not only Coimbatore district but also from Kerala to buy vegetables in bulk here.

“The existing facilities are inadequate at the market. The shops are small and there are no proper roads inside the market. There is hardly any place to unload and store the vegetables. Several two-wheelers and smaller goods carriers are parked outside for the buyers to take the vegetables to their towns or shops. We have made several representations to the Corporation to give us a bigger space or to improve the facilities here,” the trader said.

Though no official has spoken to the traders yet on the flyover works, if the construction works start, it will be challenging, the vegetable traders say.

Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner M. Prathap said that as of now, the civic body had no plans to shift the market temporarily to another place, and the market would continue to function at the same place. The possibility of such changes would be considered, if necessary, to ensure decongestion during the construction works, he added.