Bhubaneswar: The civic body is putting finishing touches to its two proposed wet markets at Ghatikia and Unit-IV as it prepares to give consumers a hygienic option to buy their meat and fish from.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has already completed civil work on the projects that started in March last year. It will now finalise the shop allotment before the two facilities can be thrown open to the public.

"We had set a target of a year to complete the projects. All the work has been completed and we have just started the allotment process," said a civic official.

The authorities plan to organise the non-vegetarian sector by bringing vendors under one roof. The wet markets have been constructed in a manner that would provide sellers and buyers a hygienic environment.

The market at Unit-IV has 18 shops, while there are 12 units at Ghatikia. The two sites were chosen after the civic body considered the number of meat and fish sellers in the areas. Unit-IV is considered to be the biggest non-vegetarian market in Bhubaneswar, while Ghatikia comes a close second.

An official said the modernised markets would bring meat, fish and poultry items under one roof. "We have facilities such as stainless steel containers, sterilised chopping tools, devices to prevent insect menace, and deep freezer for hygienic storage of meat," said the official.

However, the civic authorities might face space crunch since the markets can house only 30 vendors together. There are more than 100 permanent and temporary meat and fish sellers in Bhubaneswar. Sources said the shops at Unit-IV had already been allotted while an auction would be held for the Ghatikia units.

"We conducted a survey and got 16 eligible vendors for the Unit-IV market. They all have valid documents. For the Ghatikia space, we have invited applications from vendors who have trade licences and conducted business for the past 10 years," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.