Loop Road or fish market? Shoppers in a pickle

Vendors engage in heated arguments with GCC officials, say they were assigned stalls right at the end of complex

- PRAVEENA S A

FOR the second consecutive day, more than 40 fish vendors continued to occupy the Loop Road on Sunday, despite the Greater Chennai Corporation's diktat to relocate to the modern fish market. As the public flocked to buy fish on the first Sunday after the end of 'Puratasi', corporation officials had a hard time persuading them to buy fish only from the vendors inside the newly constructed complex.

Caught between the vendors on Loop Road and insistent officials, the shoppers who reached the beach early on Sunday, appeared confused. Indrani (65), who visited the market with her son, decided to buy from the roadside vendors as a leg ache rendered her unable to walk long. However, since the GCC officials insisted on her purchasing only from the new market, the elderly lady returned to her two-wheeler.