The much awaited opening of revamped Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) vegetable and fruits market popularly known as Naga Baba vegetable market has been postponed. The ready to shift vegetable market was likely to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Hemant Soren on October 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. But, the Civic body is yet to get time from the Chief Minister office for inauguration of the market.
Foundation of the market, built by Ranchi Municipal Corporation over 40,000 square feet at the estimated cost of Rs 11 crore, was laid by former Urban Development Minister and Ranchi MLA, CP Singh. RMC deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya on Friday visited the market complex to access the market preparation work. Sanjeev Vijayvargiya said, “The market construction work is complete and is ready to shift, but the inauguration of the market is unlikely to be held on Saturday as the Civic body has not received time from the government for inauguration of market.” The deputy mayor also refused to divulge the time when the market will be inaugurated.
Once operational, after vendors take up place there, the problem of traffic jams around Raj Bhavan and at Kishoreganj Chowk at Ratu road would be over. The foundation stone of the Naga Baba vegetable market project was laid in 2017 when the Raghubar Das-led BJP government was in power. It was meant to be ready by 2020 but the project got mired in delays due alterations in design and the pandemic. It is among a handful of civic projects that has been completed after the change of regime in the state.
The Naga Baba vegetable market is ready to shift, but the vegetable vendors are not much excited as many vegetable vendors would not get possession in the market. The allotment of counters at market was made based on the survey conducted in 2016, thereafter no survey has been done, while at period of time the number of vegetable vendors at Naga Baba Khatal market has gone up.
Dasrath Sahu, a vegetable vendor at Naga Baba market said, “We are not very excited about shifting the market to new premises as we are not sure whether we will get a counter at market.” Sahu further said, “We have come to know that allotment at the new market will be made based on the 2016 survey. At that time there were around 250-300 vegetable vendors, but in the last two years mainly during the lockdown period many vendors have come up at the Naga Baba Khatal vegetable market.”
The three floor market will have vegetable and fruits counters on all three floors. Dustbins will be arranged to collect the waste from the market, also CCTV cameras have been installed for security. The RMC will also collect rent from vendors for maintenance of the market complex.