CHENNAI: The Koyambedu wholesale market was taken by surprise on Tuesday morning when officials from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority along with the member-secretary descended at the Asia’s biggest market to check irregularities, if any, in allotment of shops.
When Express contacted a top CMDA official, he tried to play it down as a routine affair.Traders said the officials did not have any document or data on who the allottees are and were asking for documents from them. A flower trader said officials in four batches led by a chief planner visited flower, vegetable, fruits and foodgrains market. “They came around 10 am and left after two to three hours,” said traders.
A Market Management Committee Licensed Merchants Association member told Express that the market was not built as per the original plan which had gone missing and as such there had been many diversions.
Currently, many shops have been bifurcated into five or even 11 sections wherein hotels and other shops are sub-let. “It highlights the entire corruption network from the top to bottom as there is no one to check. In one case, an official favoured a trader who got the shop on lease rather than the owner, who had submitted all necessary documents. It is learnt that enquiry is being undertaken against the official after a complaint was registered with top officials,” said a trader on condition of anonymity.
While the officials refused to speak, traders informed that since there had been regular complaints and issues before the court, the CMDA tried to regularise all illegal shops three years ago as per new drawing and the site condition. It was learnt that the then chief planner directed the construction wing to go ahead with it. While the CMDA construction wing had come out with a report stating that it would result in spending of ` two crore, the file has been gathering dust for three years.
Traders also questioned on what basis the project was lying with the CMDA. It should have been handed over to the Chennai Corporation, they said. Interestingly, the Corporation’s proposal to take over the wholesale market complex and the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) at Koyambedu from the CMDA has also been gathering dust for more than four years.
Sources said that more than 40-year-old projects are being still controlled by the CMDA, which has failed to manage them.
Traders hope that the government, rather than ignoring the plight of the market, will crack down on corrupt officials responsible for this sorry state of affairs.