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Dakshina Kannada Minister in charge Dinesh Gundu Rao, who inspected the Urwa Market building which remains unoccupied since its inauguration in 2019, on Monday (October 27) instructed Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) officials to make necessary changes inside the building and provide the required facilities to enable traders to occupy stalls within the premises. He asked officials to shift traders who are in temporary stalls outside into the building later. Speaking to the press after the visit, Mr. Rao said that officials were instructed to discuss requirements with traders and accordingly arrange facilities. “The market building has been constructed unscientifically,” he said. The Minister said that Mangaluru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), which constructed the building at a cost of about ₹14 crore, later handed it over to the MCC. The corporation in turn remitted ₹7 crore to MUDA and is yet to pay the balance amount. The MCC was also instructed to make some changes to the interiors. Officials have said that this requires between ₹2 and ₹3 crore. Traders are ready to occupy the stalls provided the changes are made. It may be mentioned here that the then Urban Development Minister U. T. Khader, now Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, had inaugurated the multi-storey market-cum-commercial complex or Urwa Market in January 2019. The foundation stone for the building had been laid on December 19, 2016. The building has a built-up area of 84,891.45 sq. ft. The six-storey building has a provision for 122 stalls. Of these, at the time of inauguration, 31 were reserved for fish vendors, eight for chicken vendors, and 68 for other purposes. There are 15 units which can be used as offices. A MUDA official said that 69 cars and 40 two-wheelers can be parked in the basement and lower ground floors. Basement parking has been designed for office owners to park their vehicles.
