Squalor reigns at Thiruvanmiyur market

It takes superhuman effort to ignore Marundeeswarar Temple Market, located prominently on East Coast Road in Thiruvanmiyur. Besides location, it has another factor that draws the eyes of passersby its way: squalor.

The market sports a medley of shops and the major attraction is the profusion of shops selling vegetables. There are 131 vegetable shops, tiny holes-in-the wall, and they are a big draw, residents of Thiruvanmiyur and surrounding areas trooping in with huge bags. In fact, this market is known as Thiruvanmiyur Vegetable Market. But that would be only two-third of the truth; as there are another 51 shops that are best described as an eclectic mix.

Among the 51, one would notice a fancy store and a hardware store not far away: the contrast is symbolic of the staggering variety of the commerce.

For the use of the space, the shop owners pay a rent to the temple.

An open space, one resembling a parking lot, is among the market’s characteristics. Besides haphazardly parked vehicles, this space hosts things that do not have a business being there.

On condition of anonymity, a shop keeper points out that rotten vehicles from the shops are dumped in this open space, which emits suffocating smelliness particularly during rainy season. Grey water also flows in this spot. The smelly vegetable dumps are not cleared regularly, leaving visitors and shop keepers to deal with nausea-inducing surroundings. As this open space is low-lying, the shop keeper notes, it retains rainwater, which further queers the pitch.

What is repulsive to humans is appetising to stray cattle. They feast on the vegetable refuse and head back to their “quarters”, the section of East Coast Road right outside the market. These stray cattle hold up traffic, and another shopkeeper points out that last week, the CM’s convoy struggled its way through this section due to the bovine takeover of the road.

The shopkeepers also rue the lack of basic facilities such as toilets at the market.