Cattle farmers take over deserted Hyderabad fruit, vegetable market

HYDERABAD: The New Fruit and Vegetable Market, near Hala Naka, Hyderabad, has been taken over by cattle farmers, who have shifted more than a dozen buffaloes from the nearby Cattle Colony to the mandi (market), which was built for providing access to farmers and traders.

Since the market has not been opened formally as yet, the cattle farmers felt comfortable in taking over the deserted structures, which suit their purpose of keeping buffaloes. “Since nobody is there to question our presence, we use the space for accommodating the buffaloes,” the cattle farmers said on being questioned.

Provincial government executed the market construction as per the designs, and the structures have open space all around. Unfortunately, the boundary wall has already been damaged due to administrative carelessness.

Apart from the cattle farmers, many people use the New Fruit and Vegetable Market for different purposes without getting official approval.

Leading fruit and vegetable traders and farmers expressed concerns over the delay in the opening of the fully established fruit and vegetable market. They said besides inadequate water and sanitation and electricity facilities, security was also a major hurdle for the operators.

Ziauddin Ahmed, president, Fruit and Vegetable Merchants Association termed it a failure of the provincial government, which was not ready to fulfil the missing facilities like electricity, water, sanitation, boundary wall, and over all security.

“We have held meetings with government authorities frequently to look into the matters to avoid uncertainty among traders, but nobody bothers to pay heed towards the issues of this major mandi,” he said while talking to The News.

Presently, the market seems accessible to people like cattle farmers, who accommodate their animals.

The market, established in 1996, was set to be launched after Karachi market opening, aiming to provide access to farmers and traders of the area. But due to hurdles and lack of interest of the provincial government authorities, the mandi looks deserted.

Ziauddin, who is also vice president, Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (HCCI), said traders have spent millions of rupees on booking of shops to have a better environment.

The traders running business and dealing with farmers at existing old fruit market feel uncomfortable because of congestion and various problems they face.

But the provincial government, despite the passage of 22 years since building this major mandi, seems reluctant to launch it while ensuring basic facilities, including security.

After the devastating floods of 2010 and 2011, the government authorities and district administration had allowed the flood-affected families, hailing from all parts of the province to stay inside and outside the mandi.

The flood-affected people stayed there for more than two years. The usage of the market to house flood-affected people resulted in massive losses as infrastructure was damaged, windows and doors were broken, and many walls collapsed.

Later, the Sindh government evicted the flood-affected people from the market, but still never bothered to take steps to repair the infrastructure to make the space usable for the purpose it was built for.

Farmers believe that there was tug of war between groups of traders, who did not want their monopoly to be disturbed. As far as security was concerned, they believed that it was the responsibility of the government to settle the dispute and all other problems.

Being suppliers, farmers want access to the market so they would get the right rates for their products. For now, they were forced to sell to middlemen at cheaper rates. They believe that it was the issue of “commission agents”, who wanted to lead the business in the new market. They accused these commission agents of serving the interest of certain political parties.

Some leading traders were hopeless and said the new market would never be opened for them, because the provincial government lacked the political will to rehabilitate the damaged property and provide the necessary facilities for smooth business.

It is the second major market after Karachi, and is accessible to farmers and producers from nearby towns and districts.

Traders also accused of irregularities in shop allotments. Some shops were reportedly allotted to more than two persons at a time. They also urged for the settlement of such disputes.

Similarly, plots for parking, banks and other facilities for traders either have been encroached upon or sold out to parties without keeping in mind how the market would run successfully without these facilities, traders said.

It was a comprehensive, foreign-funded project to establish new fruit and vegetable markets in major cities, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Jacobabad, Tando Allahyar, and other towns. The purpose was to provide access to local agriculture farmers, fruit and vegetable producers and traders to run their business locally.

Farmers and fruit and vegetable producers link it to the Karachi mandi, which was launched earlier after the government authorities showed political will. The district and city administrations provided all basic facilities and farmers have access to reach the market with their products.

Farmers and traders accuse the Sindh government of not cooperating with them for opening the Hyderabad mandi, despite being the second largest city and economic hub of agriculture, fruit and vegetable products.

It has been observed that the delay in the opening of the market has impacted the overall businesses in the entire area. Reports gathered through farmers and traders also show that almost 50 major and small housing schemes were launched near the market some years back.

The real estate businessmen wanted to accommodate traders and business community near the mandi. But due to delay in opening of the major market, all the housing schemes have been in doldrums.

Many housing scheme projects were inter-connected to the market-failure phenomenon. Some of the housing schemes launched 13-14 years ago near the market are said to have been abandoned because the investors look uncertain about the value of their plots.

Not only HCCI leaders, farmers also want to see the mandi functional to put them out of the economic crisis. They believe that the mandi will provide a source of income to hundreds of local people through different works, ranging from daily wages to local entrepreneurship.