Business space at Chougachha’s vegetable market in Jashore is steadily shrinking due to encroachment, unauthorised retail stalls and mismanagement. This is affecting wholesale trade. On Monday, wholesale buyers left the market without purchasing any produce. They said they would not return unless the market’s environment and space are properly managed.
Local traders said that while some structures adjacent to the market were removed to build a model mosque, small jute-sack stalls, fish shops, tea stalls and other structures have long been established within the main market itself, reducing the space available for movement in the market.
They further said the site designated for the model mosque, on school land, previously held only 17 shops. Those shops have since been given space in a tin-shed section of the market’s building under construction — which should have minimal impact on the market. Yet, they said, a section hostile to the government is trying to spread a negative impression among the market’s buyers and sellers.
Market-related sources said market owner Atikur Rahman Lentu has leased 157 decimals of land for the vegetable market. However, there are allegations that he is conducting business by occupying nearly 350 decimals combining the market and surrounding area, of which only 47 percent is being used for the mosque construction. But mismanagement in the market has created a space crisis in the main market area.
Wholesale buyers allege that retail sellers have occupied space in the wholesale market by setting up jute-sack stalls, shrinking the market. Despite repeated complaints, they said, the market lessee has taken no action.
Market lessee Atikur Rahman Lentu claims that the market space he leased has itself been occupied in various ways, causing the space crisis, which led wholesale buyers to leave without purchasing goods.
Local residents allege that a group is conducting business worth crores of taka by renting government school land at a nominal fee to set up the vegetable market. Meanwhile, they say, the market’s mismanagement is increasing hardship for students and the general public. They believe the matter needs a permanent solution.
Wholesale and local traders say several steps are urgently needed to restore the market’s normal environment: relocating the fish stalls from the centre of the market, moving retail vegetable vendors elsewhere, evicting unplanned and illegal makeshift stalls, and relocating the wholesale depots in the middle of the market to designated spots.
Traders say that alongside these steps, planned management and regular monitoring could restore the old environment and vitality of Chougachha’s vegetable market.