Cuttack, May 28: Traders are upset over the corporation's alleged apathy towards providing basic civic facilities at Malgodown, the largest wholesale marketfor essential commodities in the state.

Now, they have decided to take the legal route. The Cuttack Chamber of Commerce, the umbrella organisation of traders at Malgodown, had given an ultimatum to the municipal commissioner on this line in a memorandum recently. On May 12, a memorandum had been submitted to the mayor, but it did not evoke any response.

Secretary of the Cuttack Chamber of Commerce B.K. Mohanty told The Telegraph: "We have submitted a fresh memorandum to the municipal commissioner. If no steps are taken within 15 days, we will have no option other than moving court."

The business body had submitted a memorandum to the mayor citing how the market had been reeling from utter civic neglect for years and needed urgent attention. "No steps were taken in this regard. We were forced to submit a fresh memorandum to the municipal commissioner for immediate attention to basic problems at Malgodown related to toilets, urinals, garbage disposal, water supply, drainage and sanitation," Mohanty said.

The Cuttack Municipal Corporation collects around Rs 10 lakh annually towards holding tax and licence fee from the nearly 1,200 traders.

"I have received the memorandum. We are on the job. Steps are being taken to address the traders' grievances and solve their problems at the earliest," municipal commissioner Bikash Mohapatra told The Telegraph.

The traders' body has urged for construction six to seven toilets at Malgodown. The couple of toilets built years ago have become defunct. "More than 10,000 people visit Malgodown every day. Businessmen come from across the state and even outside it. They face problems without toilets and urinals in the entire area," Mohanty said in the memorandum.

The municipal commissioner said: "New public toilets at Malgodown will be ready for use within a month." He said clearance of drains would be taken as part of the pre-monsoon operation across the city.

"Almost all the drains here need repairs. There is serious problem of discharge of wastewater as the drains remain choked," said the business body's joint secretary Prasant Patra.

"The situation worsens during rains. Most of the godowns and shops get inundated by rainwater overflowing from the drains, damaging the goods," said another joint secretary Prafulla Chatoi.

In the memorandum, it further said: "If the civic body is unable to improve the civic conditions for the people at Malgodown, it should waive the holding tax for the traders to facilitate them to solve the civic problems by using the money they are paying towards holding tax by creating a public welfare fund."