Sambalpur, Sept. 24: Deepak Panda had been a regular at the city's Badbazar daily market, barely 500m from his home, as he used to get all essential commodities he required from there.

But, not any more. Now, Panda has to travel 2km from his house to the Golebazar daily market to get his requirements.

Like Panda, other local residents too allege that lack of maintenance by the Sambalpur Municipal Corporation has caused the Badbazar daily market to fall on hard times. The market, which now functions from a small patch of land - mainly because of squatters - has forced several vendors to stop running business there. "Encroachment has now reduced the market space. It also lacks basic facilities for customers and vendors," Panda said.

Similar is the situation for the city's three other old daily markets, including the ones at Kunjelpara, Modipara and Budharaja. While the vegetable markets at Badbazar, Kunjelpara, Modipara are located at Old Town, the Budharaja daily market lies along the Fatak-Ainthapali main road. These markets have catered to the city residents for a long time, but are lying in neglect.

While the Modipara market does not have concrete platforms or sheds for vendors, the one at Kunjelpara lacks amenities such as parking space, public toilets and drinking water.

The Budharaja market used to function along the Deheripali Road but got shifted to a land near Professor Colony in the early nineties. The residents alleged that the authorities did not take steps to refurbish the market after it got shifted. The civic body has not developed public toilets and drinking water facility here. It remains murky throughout the day. This, combined with the absence of a drainage system, create inconvenience for customers and vendors during rains.

The civic body's lackadaisical attitude towards developing the old markets has forced several vendors to operate along the road, choking the city's traffic flow. But, these vendors often charge more for their produces.

Former councillor Sushant Dansana said: "The civic body should think about developing the old markets and maintain them properly. It should also explore the possibility of expanding these markets and provide basic amenities such as concrete platforms, drinking water arrangement and public toilets."

The civic body's deputy commissioner Sudhansu Bhoi said: "We do not have any plan to renovate the old markets." But, he said they had proposals to develop some new markets and identified some locations for the job as well.