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The congested narrow lanes leading to the vegetable mandi in Mettupalayam wore a deserted look today, taking onlookers by surprise, as traders decided to relocate and move to the outskirts of this little town, in a bid to decongest traffic.
It was indeed a quite move. But for some banners announcing the shift of the market some distance away on the Annur- Mettupalayam Road, the cosure of shops could have been construed as bandh, a market holiday.
Traders though seemed quiet cheerful in their new location, which at this juncture lacks even the basic amenities such as shelter, water, electricity, road and so on.
“Once we have these amenities and a bus stop just outside the market, the functioning would smoothen out,” Mr P. Vaidyalingam, Chairman of the Mettupalayam Vegetable Merchants' Market Committee, told Business Line .
The new market has come up in a 10-acre land between Therampalayam and Jadayampalayam on Annur Road.
Not willing to comment further on this, he said, “We have unanimously decided to move to this location at a meeting of our Board held on June 21 and within 10 days, we are here.
While we have on our part helped decongest Mettupalayam town, we hope the administration would now help us by providing water and electricity connection, road for movement of trucks/lorries and a bus-stop for the employees to commute without much hassle from here.”
Collection hub
This wholesale vegetable market acts as a collection hub for produce from hilly areas in the Nilgiris, Talawadi hills and Mysore. “A good chunk of the vegetables that we receive from these places are sold in the markets across Tamil Nadu and Kerala,” Mr Vaidyalingam said.
And the volumes seem phenomenal. The average daily volume of vegetables traded in the Mettupalayam mandi include 5,000 bags (of 75 kg/bag) of carrot, 2,500-3,000 bags of beans, 1,500 bags of beetroot, 1,000 bags of turnip and radish, 25 lorry loads of cabbage (10 tonnes/lorry) among others.
As many as 93-shops are to come up in the new location. The area was bustling with activity during the second half, with onlookers watching as if a film shooting was on!
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