A fresh option

THE CURRENT subject of interest among the residents of Adyar, Shastri Nagar and Besant Nagar is the Adyar Vegetable Market which was opened recently in Shastri Nagar, where vegetables are sold at wholesale prices as that prevailing in the Koyambedu market.

Earlier there was no proper vegetable market here. At shops opposite the Varasiddhi Vinayakar temple and on the road-side, the prices of the vegetables are exorbitant, almost double the rate prevailing at Koyambedu. Besides, the street-vendors also fleece the consumers.

The vegetable market in Shastri Nagar is the joint effort of six brothers and cousins.

In a spacious hall of about 2,000 sq.ft.,the vegetables are arranged in two rows, with a wide passage in the middle for easy movement. The vegetables are kept on big wooden trays and more than a dozen salesmen attend to the buyers. The weighing scales are accurate and the consumers are not cheated as is common with all vegetable vendors. Slightly damaged vegetables are kept separately, priced at a lower rate.

Despite the rush there is no chaos as usually seen in other markets. The purchase is made easy as everything is well organised. You get your cash exchanged for plastic tokens in the denominations of 50 paise, Re. 1, Rs. 2, 5 and 10. The balance amount is returned as tokens. "We get the vegetables directly from Koyambedu. We also get some vegetables directly from the farmers/ producing centres which arrive at our market in the afternoon. Our main objective is customer satisfaction,'' explains Ravindran, one of the partners.

"The prices are changed (decreased/ increased) based on the arrival of fresh stock once in the morning and again in the afternoon" he says.

"I never used to go to buy vegetables. My father would go to Mylapore market once a week in an auto. Now with the opening of the new market here, I make the purchase myself twice a week" says Suseela Venkataramani, a bank employee.

"The vegetables here are really cheap and fresh. The market is also neat. These were the reactions of some others coming out of the market.

The opening of the Market has forced some of the push-cart vendors to shift their area of operation to other localities.

"We are also supplying to some of the leading hotels in Adyar and we are executing orders of bulk supply for marriages and other functions, says Ravindran.

N.V.R. SWAMY

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