Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Jul 8: The nomads have now chosen to live in temporary market sheds that have been built for the use of central market vendors.
As the central market building has become dilapidated, the city corporation had restrained businessmen from entering the market three months back. The building is proposed to be demolished and a new building is proposed to be built in its place. Before that, wholesale merchants were shifted to APMC yard at Baikampady from the central market.
Under the Smart City Project, temporary sheds are being constructed for the retailers in Nehru Maidan. Temporary sheds have come up with metal sheets at State Bank, opposite Lady Goschen Hospital and on the footpath across town hall. But none of the merchants have shifted to these sheds. Some people have approached the court against using sports space for this purpose. These sheds now serve as shelters for nomads during the monsoon months.
On Tuesday, several nomads were seen sleeping in these sheds on their beds. Several families of rag pickers have started living here. They bring food from hotels and have food inside the sheds. They sleep there at night. Sheets of some of the sheds have blown away. In some sheds, street dogs are found sleeping.
On Sunday, a market of north Karnataka origin people is held opposite town hall. Clothes and vegetables are the major commodities dealt with here. Some have commented that these sheds have been of some use although people for whom they were originally meant have not shifted their business here.