BERHAMPUR: It is high time the administration planned an alternative site for the wholesale market, said traders of the city. The commodities market has grown by leaps and bounds as Berhampur is the major trading centre of south Odisha, they pointed out.In 2007, the Berhampur Development Authority (BDA) decided to build a shopping complex at the site of ‘Gajapati Plaza’ under a Private Public Partnership (PPP) scheme with Forum Projects of Kolkata. The project failed to take off due to stiff opposition from various social and political groups of the city, who were opposed to handing over of this prime land to a private company.Currently, the wholesale market of the city, which caters to parts of south Odisha and adjoining Andhra Pradesh, is located at Bada Bazaar. The narrow lanes only added to the woes. With little space for parking of vehicles and no separate space for entry and exit of trucks, the market gets literally jammed. No separate place has been identified for unloading of stocks procured from various places.There is also a restriction on the entry of trucks to the area during the peak hours. It’s the wholesale traders who fight all odds to ensure smooth flow of stocks into and outside the State despite the gruelling weather. “But we do not have any alternative,’’ said a trader. With none of the officials not willing to shift the wholesale market to a place outside the city limits, it’s the traders who suffer.President of Ganjam Chamber of Commerce C. Ravindranath said the wholesale market can be relocated to the ‘Gajapati Plaza’ which is till now a garbage dumping yard. However, the present market is within the city limits and adjacent to NH-217 which helps in easy movement of trucks to the site, he added. The traders have requested the State Government, local administration and BDA to consider the site of the ‘Gajapati Plaza’ for the purpose.
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