Town’s main kitchen market in a shabby state
Park Bazar, the main kitchen market in Tangail town, has been in a sorry state due to lack of renovation work for long, causing huge sufferings to the buyers and sellers.
In order to get rid of the problem, townspeople and traders of the market have been urging the authorities concerned to renovate the market, which was set up over three decades ago, but to no effect.
Many traders at the market alleged that though the municipality authority gets revenue from the leased shops, they are reluctant to conduct any development work.
The market was first set up on the premises of a park in the town on a temporary basis in 1977.
It was supposed to be shifted to Chhoy Ani Bazar, another old kitchen market in the town, but that never happened, locals said.
Finally, the kitchen market, locally called Park Bazar, was set up permanently at the park in 1989.
Since then, the market, established on three acres of land, has been the main kitchen market of the district town.
There are around 700 permanent and 300 temporary shops at the market, which is also known as the biggest wholesale vegetable market of the district.
Surprisingly, no drainage facilities were developed for such a large kitchen market, even though there is no alternative to drain out the stagnant water from the market premises, traders said.
As a result, the entire market area remains covered with thick mud and stagnant water for most of the rainy season.
It becomes almost impossible for the customers to enter the market even after a little rain.
Moreover, there is no shed for people to take shelter during rain or excessive heat, traders said.
Several meat traders said there is no designated slaughter house at the market.
During a recent visit to the market area this correspondent saw more shops are constructed at the Eidgah-end of the market in the last several years and allocated to traders.
Joaher Ali, general secretary of Park Market traders' association, said as there is no street light, darkness covers the entire market area soon after sunset.
Although they have urged the municipality authority on several occasions to develop the kitchen market, nothing has been done so far, he added.
The traders' association President Abdul Barek said though the municipality authority regularly collects revenue from the vendors and vehicles, during loading and unloading goods, no development work has been done to ease the troubles of the buyers and sellers.
Mahbubur Rahman, a resident of Collegepara area in the town, said the kitchen markets in the adjacent districts have been constructed using modern infrastructures to ensue various facilities for both the buyers and sellers.
But the kitchen market in Tangail town looks like a waste dumping place, he said.
Contacted, Tangail Municipality Mayor SM Sirajul Haque Khan Alamgir said they have a plan to construct a four-storey building at the existing market place where vendors of different items can sit separately.
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