20 tonnes of fruits go waste in market

20 tonnes of fruits go waste in market

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 23.06.2020

Restrictions over travel within the city and suburbs in view of the intense lockdown has hit sale of fruits at the temporary market in Madhavaram, leaving vast amounts of produce rotting. About 20 tonnes of fruits including pineapple, chikoo and papaya went to waste on Monday. On the flip side, traders at the temporary wholesale vegetable market at Thirumazhisai saw brisk business on Monday.

Tonnes of fruits remained unsold since Friday, when the 12-day lockdown to contain Covid-19 spread came into effect. While the wholesale fruit market operating at the Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus attracted an average 3,000 retail traders everyday, the footfall has dropped to one-third since the lockdown began, probably since commuting by small vehicles was capped at one person per mini-truck. All markets were shut for a complete lockdown on Sunday.

Wholesalers at the market were left with cartons of spoiled fruits. S Srinivasan, president of Chennai Fruits Commission Agents Association said nearly 200 tonnes of fruits could not be sold since Friday. About 50% was mosambi sourced from Andhra Pradesh. “In fact, this is for first time that we are dumping such high volumes (20 tonnes) of rotten fruits since the market was shifted from Koyambedu to Madhavaram 50 days ago. It is causing huge revenue losses for traders,” he said.

When contacted, sources with Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, which maintains the market, said restrictions over entry of retail traders has been resolved. “Police restricted the number of passengers in mini-trucks, but the issue has been addressed,” an official said.

Meanwhile, Thirumazhisai market sold about 2,500 tonnes of vegetables. “We were able to sell vegetables left over from Saturday as well,” S Chandran, secretary of Federation of Wholesale Vegetable Market Associations said.

ROTTING AWAY: Around 200 tonnes of fruits were unsold since Friday at the temporary market at the Madhavaram bus terminus