It began in a small way with a few petty traders around. Soon the trade flourished but the Komapalli fish market is raising a stink, literally, prompting lawyers and locals to say enough and step up their demand for its immediate shifting.
The slaughter business on both sides of a busy road that leads to several important offices of the city is only adding to the pollution. Lawyers claimed the commercial constructions on both sides of the road are illegal and need to be demolished.
Located in a densely populated area and close to the court, the largest fish market not just presents a repulsive atmosphere, the growing bio-hazard pollution has reached a dangerous level. Thousands of people use the road every day but it is a short journey through hell. In fact, the potholed road has not been repaired in the last 15 years, they say.
After persistent demand last year, the administration proposed to shift the market, but it remained just that.
Now the members of the Ganjam Bar Association, in a memorandum, have urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to intervene and ensure that fish market is shifted out of the court area. Justifying their demand, they said the district judge court complex, Berhampur, is the oldest and largest court complex of the State and has been declared a heritage building by the Orissa High Court. The market, adjacent to the SDJM and district family court, chokes free flow of traffic and emits stink because of the dump piled up day after day. Goats and chicken are slaughtered in the open road while waste materials are dumped in the drains and on roads.
The lawyers body says this adversely affects the judicial staff and is in clear violation of Article 21 of the Constitution. They also contest the civic authorities’ move which constructed structures on both sides of the road and let out to the vendors.
This is an encroachment under the Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment Act, 1972, the association has claimed. They have demanded immediate demolition of the ‘illegal construction’ made by the municipal corporation on a public road for commercial purpose.
The road is dotted with potholes and always filled with filthy water and bio-hazard materials from culling of birds, slaughtered animals and fish.