The wholesale vegetable market located at Cantonment Board will be shifted to the main market compound at APMC in Belagavi from Tuesday as per the meeting held in the APMC on Saturday.
132 shops new shops have been constructed within the APMC premises and also the allocation of the shops has also been completed and the wholesale Vegetable market will work from APMC as per the order of the Deputy Commissioner.
However, around 130 traders who are having shops at the existing wholesale market await allocation of shops in the new market. They are expected to run their shops in the market against the government order. It has been a year-and-half after the inauguration of the new wholesale vegetable market on the APMC premises, but allotment of outlets was delayed due to political pressure and technical issues, which left the farmers disappointed. The farmers had demanded the authorities concerned to allocate shops, so the market can start functioning soon.
The new market has been built on 10 acres of land and was inaugurated in January 2018 and about 25 crores were spent on the same.
According to the order, setting up a market elsewhere and doing business from there will be a crime under the Karnataka Agriculture Market Act, 1966.
As there is no space for the 100 plus members it will have to be seen how they will be accommodated in the new market. In a heated discussion, the APMC members asked why the members did not apply for the shops in the new market when the allotment was been done.
The police have said that the market will be shifted to APMC from Tuesday and if not done section 144 would be imposed.