Cuttack, March 17: The eviction notice on Malgodown, the largest wholesale market in the state, has adversely affected the food grains trade.

Sources said that after the East Coast Railway had served an eviction notice to the Malgodown traders, the wholesalers outside Odisha were reluctant to supply goods to the market.

The drop in import of essential commodities might lead to shortfall that could affect the demand and supply chain in the state.

The traders usually buy wheat, pulses, sugar and other essential food grains from other mandis in Maharastra, Bengal and other states.

'The supply of commodities has been hit as the traders outside are now stressing on early clearance of payment for their previous supply. They are also demanding advance payment in release of fresh material,' said Rice Merchants' Association president Madhusudan Rout.

Rout said that earlier, the Malgodown traders used to get a grace period of almost one month to clear the payments.

The railway had served a notice to all the traders to vacate Malgodown before March 31 due to its expansion proposals. However, no measure has yet been taken to rehabilitate the traders.

Yesterday, a delegation of the Malgodown traders' association and representatives of the Cuttack Chamber of Commerce met chief minister Naveen Patnaik and demanded measures in this regard.

At present, more than 800 traders eke out a living by doing business at Malgodown that was established in 1866.

Around 80 per cent of the land on which the wholesale market has come up falls under the railway, while the remaining 20 per cent land belongs to the Ravenshaw University.

The officials of the Cuttack Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, claimed that there was adequate stock of food grains at Malgodown.

'At present, all the traders have adequate stock of food grains in their respective godowns and that is sufficient to meet the state's requirement for a month,' said Srikant Sahu, joint secretary of the chamber.