Guwahati, March 31: About 400 vegetable vendors of Machkhowa refused to vacate the market here today despite the Supreme Court recently rejecting their plea against a 2010 Gauhati High Court order asking them to shift to a new place on the city's outskirts.
Sources said there was apprehension of trouble in the busy market situated along the Tarun Ram Phukan Road here tomorrow with the GMC today issuing a notice asking the traders to vacate the market within 24 hours, failing which they would be evicted with the help of police. The traders, however, have refused to budge.
"We will not vacate the place. We will fight against the GMC order. If a clash takes place tomorrow, the administration will be responsible for any untoward incident," said Khokon Das, vice-president of Machkhowa Vegetable Retail Traders Development Union.
The union told reporters they would not shift to the new market of the Assam Agricultural Marketing Board at Gorchuk near NH 37 as there was no mention of the market in the court order and it was situated 20km from Machkhowa.
The traders demanded accommodation either on the plot of land at Fancy Bazar that will fall vacant after shifting of the Central Jail or on the bank of the Brahmaputra at Bharalumukh.
A district administration official said adequate security arrangements would be made to ensure that nothing untoward takes place during the eviction while the traders' union said they would fight tooth and nail against the drive.
Das said, "Gauhati High Court in its order of 2010 had asked us to shift to a plot of land owned by a private party at Boragaon. But the owner moved the court seeking his land back and the court agreed. The Guwahati Municipal Corporation on March 23 offered that we shift to the agricultural marketing board's market. We refused as the market is for wholesalers and not proper for retail business. People will not come to a market on the outskirts to buy vegetables and we will lose our source of livelihood."
Acting on a PIL filed in 2004, Gauhati High Court had in 2010 ordered shifting of the Machkhowa market to Boragaon but the traders had moved the Supreme Court, challenging the order.
On March 16, the apex court rejected the traders' petition.
GMC commissioner Puru Gupta told this correspondent that all kinds of support would be provided to the traders to shift to Gorchuk. "The AAMB market is well-organised and we can provide space to 400 retailers in the eight-bigha plot. Many sheds have been constructed and some more are coming up. The approach road is complete and there is a platform where they can keep their products and do business. We have discussed with the board and they will provide support," he said.
The market was started in 1989, resulting in huge congestion in Machkhowa and forcing the residents to seek its shifting.
Together with the shifting of the jail, the process for which started today, residents and the administration feel congestion will ease in the busy commercial area.
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