Shift to G. Corner immediately, Gandhi Market traders told

As part of its efforts to avoid overcrowding at the Gandhi Market so as to check the spread of COVID-19 virus, the Tiruchi Corporation has once again decided to shift all operations to G. Corner on Tiruchi-Chennai highway from Friday.

A senior official of the Corporation, who visited the Gandhi Market on Thursday morning, met the office bearers of various vegetable, fruits and flower traders’ associations and conveyed the decision of closure of the Gandhi Market with immediate effect in view of the exponential surge in cases of COVID-19. He told them that the market would function from G. Corner from Friday and all necessary arrangements were being made to set up shops.

Taking strong exception, a group of traders told the official that it was not possible to shift the operations within a day. Moreover, it was unfair to ask them to move to the new place, when the traders stuck to the business hours between 4 am to 12 noon. However, the official told them that he had no choice.

M. K. Kamalakannan, president of the Tiruchi Gandhi Market Viyaparigal Munnetra Sangam, said that it would make no difference between trading at Gandhi Market and G. Corner. They would comply with the time restriction imposed by the government on trading. The customers would anyway buy vegetables either at Gandhi Market or any other place. Hence, the traders should be allowed to continue their trading at Gandhi Market.

He said that the traders were forced to transact business at G. Corner for eight months by the previous government due to the ill-conceived decision of the officials. There were no basic facilities such as shed, toilets and drinking water. If the officials forced them to move again to G.Corner, like-minded traders would as well stop trading as a form of registering their protest.

Corporation officials said that the situation had turned grim. There was a need to break the chain of spread of the virus. G. Corner was an open market and chances of spread of the virus were less there when compared to Gandhi Market. Hence, the traders were asked to shift their operations to G. Corner.

It is the second attempt by the officials to shift the traders to G. Corner from the Gandhi Market within a month. To contain the spread of the virus, the Corporation officials had asked the retail traders to shift to G. Corner a few weeks ago. But the traders had refused to budge.

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