Bhubaneswar, Feb. 2: Bhubaneswar Haat — a market complex with 176 shops and kiosks — remains practically unused since it was set up over four years ago, with only a handful of the traders operating there on a regular basis.

Of the six shuttered shops in the complex, only one opens daily, while just 40 vendors have been selling their wares from the open-front kiosks on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Sources said the reluctance of traders to operate in the area was mainly on account of the resistance of the locals who had protested against allotment of shops and kiosks to outsiders when the haat was inaugurated in 2006.

Another reason for some of the traders not opening their shops is that they are yet to deposit their weekly rent to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the last three years. Sources in the BMC said that 48 traders who had been allotted shops had not paid the weekly rent of Rs 84 for the last three years. The complex also lacks drinking water and toilet facilities. Local residents alleged that though the haat had been set up in their area, not a single person from the area had been allotted shops. Local councillor Hruday Ballabh Samantray admitted that people of the area had been neglected while making allotments. “Many local aspirants who were not allotted shops are creating problems although we are trying our best to pacify them. The demands of the locals should have been kept in mind. Had this been done, the haat would have been buzzing with activity today,” he said.

The councillor added that BMC had begun realising the rent arrears from the traders who had been allotted shops. “The money thus realised will be used for the development of civic amenities in the complex. There is also a proposal to construct a boundary wall around the complex,” he said.

Sources said the haat, one of the best in the city in terms of infrastructure, was built at an estimated cost of Rs 65.9 lakh. However, even four years after its inauguration the place today wears a deserted look with hardly a few shops opening regularly. One of the shopkeepers said that drinking water and public toilet facilities are yet to come up in the complex. Debendra Kumar Behera, a resident of Gandamunda, said that while a number of local residents were looking for space in the haat, the authorities refused to consider their demands. “With the closure of the airport road around 48 shops in the area had to close down. These people desperately wanted a shop in the haat complex but they were denied the opportunity,” he added.

BMC officials, however, refuted the allegation. “The market was allotted to the people who were willing to pay the security deposit of Rs 5,000 and a weekly fee of Rs 84. But since the locals were not willing to pay even this amount so they could not have been allotted the shops,” said an official, adding that even among the 133 allottees only 85 have so far cleared the weekly rent arrears. There were also demands that the allottees should be allowed to pay the weekly rent arrears in instalments.