Hamalis’ strike cripples activity at Nunna vegetable market

Vijayawada: The indefinite strike by loading and unloading hamalis (workers) has brought operations at the Sri Durga Malleswara Wholesale Vegetable Market at Nunna, near Vijayawada, to a standstill for the past week, causing severe losses to farmers and traders.

Vegetable consignments brought from farms have been stranded as there are no hamalis to unload and handle the produce. Several loads of yam, ridge gourd, pumpkin, tomato and other vegetables have reportedly spoiled, with traders saying water was leaking from some trucks due to the prolonged storage of the produce. Members of the Sri Durga Malleswara Wholesale Merchants Association in Nunna staged a protest at the market on Thursday, demanding that the workers end the strike and allow normal trading operations to resume.

Association president Ajay Kumar, joint secretary Dangeti Ravi Kumar and honorary president Mastan Vali said traders had shifted from the Rajiv Gandhi Wholesale Market after operating there for more than four decades and purchased 5.70 acres of land at Nunna with their own funds and loans to establish the present market. They said the shift had increased the distance for customers by around 15 km and raised transportation costs. While the cost of transporting goods from Guntur and Junction markets was around Rs 20 to Rs 30, it had increased to Rs 70 to Rs 80 from Nunna, resulting in a 30% to 50% decline in business, they claimed.

The traders said they were paying Rs 37 per bag for unloading, weighing and moving the produce and claimed that such wages were higher than those paid at other vegetable markets. They said they had asked the workers to give them a year to stabilise business before considering any further increase in wages.

Farmer Srinivasa Rao said he had brought produce after working hard in his fields but was unable to unload or sell it for the past five days. “We cannot harvest the crop in the fields and cannot sell what we have already brought to the market,” he said.

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The Hans India