MC to auction fish and meat market kiosks again

Even though the last auction of the AC Fish and Meat Market held earlier this year found no takers, the Municipal Corporation has announced another auction with similar guidelines to be held later this month. This is not the only project of the civic body where problems have arisen due to there being no takers for the price at which auctions are held. Other proposals have also hit similar roadblocks.

The AC Fish and Meat Market was constructed in Sector 41. The aim was to provide one-stop location for fish and meat purchases. The vendors selling fish and meat products illegally were to be rehabilitated here.

While the market was constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore by the UT Administration, it has now been handed over to the Municipal Corporation. However, the high reserve price proved to be a deterrent for the meat and fish sellers, who found it beyond their reach. The civic body has once again decided to auction the booths without any price revision.

Councillor Rajesh Gupta says that the opinion of the people is not taken into consideration before decisions are taken. “The reserve price is so high that there will be no takers once again. How can the officers expect that a poor fish or meat seller can spend lakhs for a booth? The price should be normal and there should be an option of easy installments,” he said. 

Recently, the auction of parking lots proposed by the Municipal Corporation had also flopped with none of the contractors showing interest. The reason being that the civic body wanted install equipment for automated parking and asked the contractors to do so. The demand was not agreed to by the contractors who refused to participate in the auction. The contractors have also given notices to the civic body for giving up the parking lots they are managing stating that they are not being able to break even.

Councillor Chander Mukhi Sharma said the Municipal Corporation should install the equipment and ask the contractors only to manage the parking lot. The equipment installed would be the property of the civic body. The experiment of the Municipal Corporation with auctioning of the kiosks at the Night Food Street had also led to problems: those who had bid for the kiosks found it non feasible to run their business. An official of the Municipal Corporation said this time they were expecting better response to the auctions.