Kundapur: Stench and filth make weekly market a harrowing experience

Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur

Kundapur, Aug 18: The famous market that is held at Kundapur on Saturdays every week, is so full of filth and stink that it has become a harrowing experience for both traders and customers to go there.

The Saturday market here has a history of its own. The market that was in existence for hundreds of years got a boost when APMC was established here about 22 years ago. The APMC yard for the taluk that was started inside the Arekare land next to NH 66 enabled the functioning of taluk level market inside the APMC yard.

Traders from North Kanara, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada etc come to the market place every Saturday to conduct business. The market that is close to NH 66 poses impediments at the entrance. The highway at the entrance is totally destroyed due to potholes and slush and the situation is such that the customers have to go there because they are left with no option.
 

The blocked drainage

The drainage near the national highways is blocked due to waste and debris. The waste such as leaves and spoilt fruits that are being thrown there during Saturday market is getting decomposed there causing an unbearable stink. The situation is worse when it rains as the rain water flows back into the market area.
 

Grievances of the traders

Most traders do business by sitting inside the shed while a good many of them have to sit outside them. As they only have plastic covers over their heads, they are faced with problems of their vegetable getting washed away by the water. As the customers are walking close by, some vegetable gets spoilt when they stamp them. They do business by keeping bananas, coconuts etc on the road. The APMC who charges rent from the traders has remained indifferent. The frustration of the traders on Saturdays cannot be explained.
 
The market covering an area of 4.5 acres is visited by more three thousand people every Saturdays. The toilet building here is as good as nonexistent. Broken doors and filth leave no option for the people other than relieving themselves near the compound.
 

Broken sheds

The shed here is broken for the last three years and not been set right since. The women here say that several requests for their repairs have yielded no results. The citizens here are surprised at the APMC which only takes money from the traders and does nothing for the improvement of the market.
 
The state government builds APMC buildings in Mangalore, Kundapur and North Kanara alike, without taking into consideration the rain pattern in the region. Nobody is able to understand how the planning for a building in a place with a rainfall of 400 ml and that with a rainfall of 4000 ml can be alike. Such unprofessional attitude causes a chain of problems in the karavali region with heavy rainfall.
 
Kenchanooru Somashekara Shetty, Convenor, Save Kundapur movement committee.