The Vellore City Corporation has taken steps to restore the crumbled British-era Netaji Market and a nearby primary healthcare centre (PHC) by seeking permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for the work as both the facilities are located near the 16 th Century fort, a protected monument.
Officials said the market, spread over 1.5 acres at the centre of the fort town, had not been renovated since 1947, except for occasional internal modifications by traders associations.
“After much thought, we finally wrote to the Director General of ASI based in New Delhi seeking a nod for the work,” Corporation Commissioner P. Ashok Kumar told The Hindu.
The market on Long Bazaar Road was built in 1868 after the Vellore Municipality was established in 1866. In its early days, the market only had 200 equally-sized stalls, mostly built from brick and mortar. Fresh vegetables, fruits, cereals, greens, honey from the hills and a wide variety of flowers were sold in the premises.
Tapping water from the nearby Otteri lake, the British provided public fountains in the market in 1912. A year before that, a clock tower was installed by residents in commemoration of the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in Delhi on December 12, 1911. A drinking water supply system was installed on 24 July, 1927 in memory of Deshbandhu C.R. Das, the president of the 1922 Gaya Congress Conference.
The market is name after to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who formed the Indian National Army (INA) in 1942. When the Vellore Town Netaji Market Vegetable Merchants’ Association was formed in 1967, the office-bearers decided to name it Netaji Market. Over the years, the number of stalls in the market grew to 400, but it became dilapidated due to lack of maintenance.
The PHC at Makkan junction serves over 40,000 residents in Ambedkar Nagar and the surrounding areas.
The centre is located within the regulated area of 200 m from the Vellore Fort, a protected monument. As the facility is located in a low-lying area, it gets flooded easily during the monsoon, forcing residents to travel long distances to receive basic treatment. This had necessitated its renovation, officials said.
