Dindigul Corporation will shift the wholesale vegetable market to Lorrypettai shortly to restore the beauty of Gandhi open auditorium on Taluk Office Road, which houses the market now, and to bring it back to public use.
Led by Mayor V. Marudha Raj, a team of corporation officials inspected Lorrypettai area on Thursday and chalked out plans to construct the vegetable market. A new building for Siddha hospital will also come up at the new site.
Lorrypettai is located on an area of around one acre and five cents and the corporation plans to utilise 70 cents behind it to construct 280 shops for vendors. Two balwadis near the lorry shed will be shifted.
Two entrances – one on Dindigul-Palani highway and another on Taluk Office Road – would be formed for the new market, corporation officials said.
Mr. Marudha Raj said the Gandhi open auditorium would be fully rehabilitated and brought back to public use. It would be used for non-commercial and social purpose.
Corporation officials have clarified that shops will be given only to vendors who are prompt in paying taxes and electricity and other charges in the existing market. Thatched shelters will be created in the new market. Lorrypettai already has concrete flooring and a compound wall. A lane behind the proposed site will be closed and a new road laid for people in the area to reach Palani Road and Taluk Office Road.
When the then Dindigul Municipality vacated the Bengali Market on West Car Street to ease traffic congestion two decades ago, it permitted vegetable vendors to use Gandhi auditorium. “It was a temporary arrangement. When we provide a suitable place, all vendors should vacate the auditorium immediately,” the Mayor said.