After waiting nearly eight years, traders of the Ghazipur fruit and vegetable market will finally move into their new 28-acre economic complex built near the current location.
While the allotment of shops is expected to begin from February, the arrangements made, including that of parking and waste management, is sure to give the buyers a more hygienic and comfortable experience.
The new market which was completed way back in 2011 has 18 acres of land allotted to the fruit and vegetable market and 10 acres to the flower market. The flower market alone will consist of a seven-storeyed building and an Action Hall. The allotment is proposed between February 6 and March 3 following which the market complex will be expanded to the seven acre land which houses the temporary mandi.
The project was conceived in 2002 after the market was temporarily moved from GT Road, Shahdara to the Integrated Freight Complex at Ghazipur in 2002 owing to construction of the Metro there. “Work on the new complex only began in 2005 with a budget of `90 crore and was completed in 2011 following which deliberation on the shifting process began,” said Mukesh Tiwari, chairman, Agricultural
Produce Market Committee (APMC), Ghazipur.
However, all is not well for the traders as they claim of facing problems in getting a loan for paying for the new shops. “The main problem in moving to the new complex is that the Delhi Finance Corporation has not arranged for a legal document for the traders to obtain a loan. The traders have to pay 10 per cent upfront, 15 per cent in 30 days and the remaining 75 per cent in 60 days,” informed Tiwari.
The APMC has also chalked out a detailed waste management system wherein collecting of waste would be outsourced. “There would be a new contract which is still in the pipeline. It would include useful management of waste viz., waste to energy conversion involving NGOs etc. Currently they have hired a contractor who dumps all the waste in the Ghazipur landfill. Some of the edible waste is consumed by the cattle of the farmers,” informed another member of the committee.
The new market boasts of solving the prevalent parking issue in the area. “There is sufficient space for the consumers to park their vehicles in the new complex and every shop has enough space in front for three trucks to unload on the new 19 meter road. We have also written to the DDA to organise the land in front of the mandi so that it could be put to good use for parking. Besides, we have also called upon the PWD to handle the mismanagement of the unmetalled road cluttered by vehicular junk approaching the mandi,” said Tiwari.