BANGALORE: All flower stalls in the K R Market downed their shutters in response to a call given by the Bangalore Flower Merchants’ Association against the construction and allotment of shops near exit point in the market. This resulted in an estimated Rs 1-crore loss on Monday. Members of the association alleged that the fire exits and passages meant for public use were blocked. They claimed that these shops were allotted by the BBMP, though a stay order was brought against it by the flower vendors. They noted that BBMP had to issue a tender before allotting the shops, but they had not followed the procedure.
Also, they had permitted shops to be opened at dumping yards. Anil Kumar, member of the association, said flower shops were closed between 12 pm and 3 pm, during the peak hours in business. “More than 700 vendors have shops at the new market building and all of them participated in the protest,” Kumar said. According to Anil, flower vendors (wholesale vendors) recorded a loss of `40 lakh, while vegetable vendors’ business was affected by `30 lakh and garland sellers recorded a loss of `20 lakh, adding up to an over all loss of `1 crore. He added that K R Market was the largest flower supplier from South India. “Vendors here supply flowers to Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi. Some of our flowers are even sent abroad. We did not supply flowers today due to the protest,” he said.