Sugarcane stacked up by traders outside the Uzhavar Sandhai at Anna Nagar in Tiruchi.
| Photo Credit: S.Ganesan

Sugarcane stacked up by traders outside the Uzhavar Sandhai at Anna Nagar in Tiruchi.
| Photo Credit:
S. Ganesan

Unauthorised festival sales by traders in front of the Uzhavar Sandhai at Anna Nagar in Tiruchi is turning an increasing concern for farmers who have been allotted shops to sell their produce inside the shandy.

The seasonal business taken up by some traders ahead of major festivals were affecting their business, the farmers complained. Many customers who come to the Uzhavar Sandhai in the hope of the buying quality produce directly from farmers are drawn to the roadside shops. On Monday, a handful of traders could be seen selling sugarcane, turmeric bunches and flowers outside the sandhai, much to the chagrin of the farmers. The traders procure the essentials required for each festival from the wholesale markets and sell it in front of the Uzhavar Sandhai for a tidy profit, the farmers complained.

“I have been selling here for nearly 25 years. In recent years, during the festival season, several traders are setting shop outside. We invest money in hope of getting good returns during the festival season, but these traders affect our business and we are powerless to stop them,” Kalaivani, a farmer who had been allotted a shop at the Sandhai.

The Uzhavar Sandhai has 110 shops and 164 farmers have been issued identity cards to sell their produce inside. On normal days, about 80-100 farmers set shop at the sandhai, but during the festival season almost all those who had been issued cards bring their produce to sell, making the shandy already overcrowded.

“Earlier there were only two or three people setting shops outside the shandy; but now the numbers go up every festival season. We spend much time to transport our produce early in the morning from our fields in the villages and have to sell the produce the same day. But these traders are ruining our business,” said Masilamani of Inam Puliyur, another farmer.

When contacted, sources in the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business conceded that the traders were operating without any permission and the matter had been taken up with the Corporation and the police for evicting them.

The indiscriminate parking of two wheelers and other vehicles on the road obstructing traffic to and from the Uzhavar Sandhai gates has also been a sore point for the farmers. Even some dealers in used two-wheelers operating on Pattabiraman Pillai Road park vehicles in front of the Uzhavar Sandhai, they complained.