VIJAYAWADA: Hoping to find a permanent solution to avoid massive congregation on Besant Road, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has proposed to relocate the seven and half decades old Mahanti Fish and Chicken Wholesale and Retail Market from Besant Road to other parts of the city.
According to VMC officials, a couple of days ago, municipal commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh conducted night inspection in the city to take stock of the progress of infrastructure projects.
He observed that several vehicles carrying fish and other aqua products were occupying the major portion of the Road causing severe congestion. Besides that, fish and aqua suppliers have also been indiscriminately discarding waste on the road causing much inconvenience to the pedestrians.
Taking serious note of the matter, Venkatesh directed officials to identify a suitable land for relocating Mahanti Fish and Chicken Wholesale and Retail Market. He also interacted with the traders who expressed their willingness to relocate to elsewhere in the city.
VMC chief engineer M Prabhakar Rao told TNIE that on an average, the market sees about 1,500 visitors daily while the number touches almost 4,000 over the weekends. He further informed that the shopkeepers have agreed to relocate and the civic body is considering to allocate land to the shopkeepers near Ajith Singh Nagar or Vambay Colony.
He added the shifting process will begin only after finalising the space and discussing with the shopkeepers. “As the market area has not undergone any major repair works in the recent years, VMC is planning to convert the ageing structure as an alternative land for developing multi-level parking. Besant Road is being developed as an exclusive ‘Shoppers Street’ at a cost of `2.5 crore,” he said.