HYDERABAD, Oct 4: Vegetable and fruits are being sold in a highly polluted environment in the city's main Sabzi Mandi which has turned into a virtual garbage area in the wake of the torrential rain on Friday and Saturday.

During past three days, rainwater has remained stagnant in and around the Sabzi Mandi resulting in closure of some shops. A combination of filthy water and heaps of garbage and stench welcomes buyers as rainwater has created slime and slush everywhere.

While rainwater is evaporating, no efforts have been made to clear garbage in the market. The market has no proper sewerage system and an open drain passes through the market which has not been cleared of silt. The drain has no side walls and rain-water is mixed with drain water when it overflows during rains.

The civic bodies have turned a blind eye towards highly unhealthy atmosphere prevailing in the market. The Market Committee charges 60 and 100 paisa per 100 kilogrammes on vegetables and fruits, respectively, whereas Rs10 are reportedly charged as parking fee by the Latifabad Taluka Municipal Administration for each vehicle entering the market for off-loading goods.

The small-scale vegetable and fruit commission agents are selling goods on the Gharib Nawaz Bridge as they do not find a clean space in the market. Information gathered by this correspondent revealed that before being sold to retailers or despatched upcountry, vegetables and fruits are scattered in hazardous environment as no measures have been adopted to check insanitation in and around 52 shops of fruit commission agents and over 200 stalls at the auction platform.

The market also lacks proper lighting arrangements and metalled roads because of which the flow of vehicles becomes extremely difficult during rains. Only one or two sanitary workers turn up on normal days and there is a need to increase their strength in rainy season.

"In fact we are selling disease to buyers in the polluted environment at the Sabzi Mandi. If sanitary conditions are improved here, there will be a marked decline in ratio of diseases.

The government must earmark a good amount for the Sabzi Mandi instead of allocating it to health sector," said Javed Ahmed, a member of the executive committee of the Onion Potato Vegetable Commission Agents Group.

He held the Market Committee and the TMA responsible for the insanitation in the Sabzi Mandi and asked: "Is there a justification for charging the fees by two bodies when they fail to ensure clean environment."

He said that encroachers who had occupied different parts of the market had also created hurdles in transportation of goods. Mr Ahmed rejected the TMA's claim that it spent parking fee on uplift of the Sabzi Mandi and said that it was a lie given the prevailing situation.

Former president of the group, Haji Zaheer, said that the Market Committee generated millions of rupees on account of collection of fee on goods. He said that the TMA Latifabad also recovered fees from vendors and parking fees from vehicles but both the bodies took no interest in creating better conditions at the Sabzi Mandi. He added that the Market Committee possessed a tractor trolley but it was not used.

The shopkeepers demanded massive cleanliness drive in the Sabzi Mandi on a war footing and also a proper lighting system. Latifabad Taluka Nazim Abdul Jabbar Khan said that the Sabzi Mandi ought to be given under the control of the TMA till it was shifted to a new site.

He said that the TMA had placed 10 sanitary workers at the disposal of the commission agents and added that under limited resources, they were trying to provide facilities to the Sabzi Mandi as much as possible.