Scores of people shop for fruits and vegetables at Chhatra Bazaar market every day amid filth and slush. One has to carefully choose one’s way through the animal waste and squalor not to speak of the stench that emanates from the area.
Managed jointly by the Chhatra Bazaar Traders Association and the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), the market that stretches over one km presents a picture of neglect, especially in terms of solid waste management. Incessant rain that lashed the city in the past few days has made the condition worse.
Motorists have to negotiate heaps of garbage and slush inside the market, considered the oldest in the city. Scores of cattle could be perennially seen rummaging on vegetable waste. Most traders dump their waste near the three entrances from where they are transported to outskirts of the city by Corporation trucks. However, a substantial amount of garbage remains stagnant at the market place at any given time in the day. Most of the time, the waste materials are thrown into two canals that pass through the market including the Taladanda Canal by the vendors. There are just three large dust bins that have been placed at two points in the market by the CMC whereas seven trucks of garbage are generated from Chhatra Bazaar on a daily basis.
Adding to the squalor is the fact that areas around both the entrances have been converted into open urinals by workers and visitors to the market.
Chhatra Bazaar has over 2000 shops doing brisk business, both wholesale and retail. There is traffic congestion in the area throughout the day as heavy vehicles are allowed inside the narrow lanes of the market to load and unload vegetable stocks in godowns. Besides, there is no space inside the market for parking of two-wheelers. The garbage and stray cattle effectively occupy half of the narrow road space at the site.
Traders though affected by the sorry state of affairs, however, prefer to remain quiet. “The situation is pretty bad. It’s time that the Corporation paid more attention to the problem,” says a vegetable vendor, Ramakanta Sahoo. The situation turns worse after rains when even walking inside the market becomes a problem in slushy conditions. Some traders say that previously garbage was cleared twice a day, but now collection was very irregular. The residents nearby are also sore over the ‘lethargic attitude’ of the CMC on this serious issue.
Secretary of Chhatra Bazaar Traders Association Debendra Sahu said the association employs six sweepers to clean the market every evening. ‘‘Though the CMC is also taking steps to clean the market, that does not suffice,’’ he added. “We had proposed certain plans to the CMC to give the vegetable market a face-lift, but they are sitting on the proposals on the plea that there is no scope for development of the market,” he lamented.
Contacted, CMC officials said steps were being taken to maintain sanitation in the market. On development initiatives, they said the market lacks space for creation of a parking zone or any other structure. ‘’This is a market that has been functioning for several years now and it’s very difficult to change the way vendors have been functioning,” said an executive engineer of the civic body.
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