Vendors yet to get space in Jobra open market

CUTTACK: Four years after announcing an open market at Jobra Chowk, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has not allotted a single shop to the vendors. In the meantime, the market has turned into a garbage dumping yard.
On August 31, 2010, mayor Soumendra Ghose had laid foundation stone for a market exclusively for street vendors. The market, comprising 63 shops, was inaugurated by Cuttack-Choudwar MLA Prabhat Biswal on August 31, 2012.Sources said more than 40 local vendors had given Rs 3,000 each to CMC for it.
Since shops have not been allotted yet, vendors, particularly fish and meat sellers, continue to do business on the roadside, which makes the area dirty. "The vendors dump wastes wherever they feel like, making the area extremely unhygienic," said a vendor, Laxmidhar Nayak.
"Like many others, I deposited Rs 3,000 with CMC two years ago. I have visited the civic body office on several occasions and returned only with false promises by officials," alleged Sudhakar Barik, another vendor.
MLA Prabhat Biswal passed the buck on the CMC. "The civic body is sitting on the project for the last two years," he said. CMC Commissioner Gyana Das said allocations would be made the next month after clearing of garbage from the area.