THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It seems the fish merchants at Palayam market will have to wait some more for a hygienic working environment and new toilets. “For how long can we endure the abuses hurled at us by the customers, the loading workers, ward off stray dogs and simultaneously manage our business while controlling nature’s call,” asks the desperate lot. Problems began to surface at the fish market after the old market was demolished by the Corporation under the pretext of renovation. The Corporation has time and again promised that the construction of a new market complex would begin soon. But nothing has happened so far. “We can’t renovate the existing market just to build new toilets. More financial assistance has to be pushed in for the construction of the proposed market complex at Palayam,” says Mayor K Chandrika. More than 300 fish vendors from different parts of the district depend on Palayam market for selling fish. But the infrastructure in the market has developed little over the years. The floor of the market, which was inaugurated in February 2010, has been lying in a dilapidated state for over a year now. The merchants had accused the Corporation of foul play after the floor crumbled just months after its construction. Fish vendors throng the market space on all days except Sundays. According to them, the marble slabs which were built to place the fish are rarely cleaned by the Corporation. At night, stray dogs flock in and make use of the marble slabs for their naps. ‘’We are forced to sell fish in this unhygienic environment,’’ said Kavitha A, a resident of Kunnukuzhy. She laments that sitting for hours in the dirty, cold water has made a lot of them victims to arthritis and skin diseases. Draining of sewage and wastes to adjacent places has made life difficult for traders of nearby shops. M Maheen, owner of a meat stall, said that the customers turn their back at their business once they spot the wastes. ‘’Business takes a beat on days when the fish market is busy,” he said. That aside, the absence of toilets within the market premise is making things harder for the fish vending women. Although there is a public comfort station owned by the Corporation which has been leased out to a private party, the merchants, especially the women, demand that a separate toilet be constructed for them as well. As of now, they have to depend on the comfort station on the outskirts of the market. Some women who do not have the luxury to leave their wares for too long are forced to relieve at the place itself. “It is true, the act is repelling, but, what else can they do?,” asks Akesh Antony, who runs a wholesale fish agency. Before he finished his sentence, an old woman scooted out of the market and squatted hesitantly near the newly fitted tap, hardly a few feet away from the crowd. Not much can be done when nature calls!
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