HYDERABAD: It looks as though Rs 50 crore spent by the GHMC on the construction of 38 new Model Markets in different parts of Greater Hyderabad amidst much fanfare has gone down the drain as most of them have been lying vacant and gathering dust for the last three to four years.
In the absence of supervision some of them are being used as homes by families and others had become either dens for boozers or became garbage dumps. Of the 585 odd shops constructed in the 38 Model Markets, over 450 are vacant and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) authorities are scratching their heads as to what they should do with them as no trader is interested in renting them.
To make amends for the ill-conceived project, the civic body is planning to lease them for police stations, Basthi Dawakhanas, counselling centres, gymnasiums, public libraries, lighthouse communities and so on. Each model market has a total of 10 to 25 shops, each measuring 80x150 square feet.
The traders who visited the model market with the intent to take shops backed out saying that these markets have been constructed in isolated locations and far away from residential areas and colonies. People are not ready to come to these markets when they are able to get groceries at nearby places. The major reason is that traders are finding rents higher than market value.
About 22 new model markets (60-70 per cent) have NIL occupants. The markets that have zero occupants are (1) Meerpet Model Market, Housing Board Moula Ali (2) Lalithanagar Colony, Nagole, L B Nagar (3) Mansoorabad Judges Colony (4) Sahebnagar in BN Reddy Nagar (5)Backside of MRO Office in Saroornagar (6) Nalgonda to Dilsukhnagar Road New model market (7) Talab Chanchalam (8) TNGOs Colony in Mailardevpally (9) Premavathipet in Rajendranagar (10) Feroz Gandhi park in Koti, Jambagh (11) Mayuri Nagar in Chandanagar (12) Chandanagar Railway Station Huda colony Model market (13) CB CID Colony in Moosapet (14) VIth Phase in KPHB Colony (15) Hasmathpet (16) Papireddy Nagar in Kukatpally (17) Gayatri Nagar in Quthbullapur (18) Jagathgirigutta (19) Turkapally Road at Rail Nagar in Alwal (20)Kowkoor Old ward office (21) APIIC Colony, Malkajgiri (22) Shanthi Nagar in Tarnaka.
Each of these model markets has 15 to 20 shops. Model Markets having more than 60-70 per cent shops that are vacant are (1) Gandhi Nagar in Uppal, (2) FCI Colony in Vanasthalipuram, (3) Hasthinapuram, (4) Champapet, (5) Subramanyam Nagar in Santosh Nagar, (6) Mallepally, (7) Old MCH market beside Anwar ul Uloom College.
Model Markets like (1) Beerappagadda Market, (2) Venkata Reddy Nagar, Ramanthapur Road (3) Rakshapuram in Chandrayangutta (4) Begum Bazar (5) MIG BHEL and (6) TNGOs Colony in Serilingampally are 80-100% occupied.
High rent
Krishna, a trader who is running a kirana shop in Saroornagar said the reason he is not willing to take a shop is he cannot pay the mandatory six-month advance. Besides, the rent is also quite high which he cannot afford. The same is the case with other traders who are shying away to take a shop in the market, he added. A watchman’s family which is temporarily residing in a shop said that they will move out after finding a house nearby.
A few people said that some markets have turned into havens for playing cards, and for boozing. “We tried to lease out the shops but there were no takers at all. High rents are said to be the reason initially. However, even after the rents were drastically reduced, nobody came forward to occupy them. Only about 25-30% of the total space could be leased out as of now. The reason might be that they are far off from the main road,” officials told TNIE.