Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam collectorate has cancelled the week offs for four out of 14 Rythu Bazars in Vizag. Rythu Bazaars are usually closed on a specific day of the week and transactions are stopped on that day. This practice has been in force since the establishment of Rythu Bazaars in the state.
Recently, some farmers met Visakhapatnam North MLA Vishnukumar Raju and requested that Rythu Bazaars be kept open on all days. After the MLA informed the joint collector, Mayur Ashok, about these concerns, the weekend holidays for Sitammadhara and Kancharapalem Rythu Bazars (every Tuesday) and MVP Colony and Narasimha Nagar Bazaars (every Wednesday) have been cancelled.
Rythu Bazaars were established in Visakhapatnam in 1999, initially operating from 6 am to 12 noon. However, these markets now operate from 6 am to 8 pm. In 2019, it was decided to give them one day off per week, and now, as a pilot project, the weekend holiday has been cancelled in these four Rythu Bazaars.
In Rythu Bazaars across the state, each typically has a supervisor, an estate manager, and a security guard. However, in Visakhapatnam, they are short-staffed and only have an estate manager and a security guard. When Deccan Chronicle contacted, Sheikh Yashkin, the additional director of Rythu Bazaar, mentioned that unofficially, the estate manager and the security guard could make adjustments and having one day off for each was sufficient.
When Deccan Chronicle spoke to Kondababu, the estate manager of Seethammadhara Rythu Bazaar, on the same topic, he said this decision could deprive him of spending time with his family and his family members were not happy. G Prasad, the Estate Manager of MVP Rythu Bazar, told Deccan Chronicle, "The Gnanapuram wholesale market, which supplies onion, potato, tomato and other vegetables to Visakhapatnam, remains closed every Sunday. All the bazaars in the state observed week offs, so it seems unjust to cancel holidays only for us."
