
COIMBATORE: A modern fish market constructed two years ago on Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) land at Pullukadu in Ukkadam was inaugurated on Monday by Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji.
The Coimbatore District Retail Fish Traders Association built the market on one-acre CCMC land two years ago. Around 51 members of the association shelled out money from their pockets and built 72 shops. As platform traders demanded the civic body and the association to allocate space for them, a dedicated space for them with 25 stalls was built and allocated for them in the market.
Over two years passed since the market’s construction was completed, the facility was not inaugurated due to various issues. While the land was owned by CCMC, and the shops were built by the traders, the latter refused to pay rent for shops and requested the civic body to lease the land to them. As leasing out the government’s land required a lot of process, a special GO, the inauguration got delayed. Also, a majority of the traders had pending dues of over Rs 4.5 crore including rent & taxes to the CCMC which further delayed the opening.
Meanwhile, over 200 sanitary workers’ families have been waiting for permanent homes to be constructed on the old fish market’s land. In view of this, the CCMC after receiving a portion of the pending dues from the traders, gave the nod to the traders to open the facility after the state government released the special GO with a list of rules & regulations for the new market.
Minister Senthil Balaji along with Coimbatore MP Ganapathy P Rajkumar, Coimbatore District Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati, CCMC Commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran, Mayor K Ranganayaki, Deputy Mayor R Vetriselvan, councilors, and other officials inaugurated the new fish market.
Speaking at the event, Balaji assured the traders to fulfill their request of installing paver blocks, and streetlights and build compound walls to create a dedicated parking facility for the market through the CCMC.