The long-awaited project of the Nagpur Itwari Kirana Merchants Association of developing a new market at Chikhli (Deo) in the outskirts of the city on Thursday kicked off with a groundbreaking ceremony held on the auspicious occasion of Gudhi Padwa. President of the association Pramod Sedani, Secretary Pankaj Chabaria, Chikhli Committee Convener Harish Kushnani, former presidents Govind Mitra, Matyukumar Panchmatiya, Sanjay Suchak, Rajendra Prasad Baid, Harshitmal Katariya, Prakashchand Ghothal, Shiv Pratap Singh and others were present on the occasion. On the occasion, Pramod Sedani highlighted that the project will be highly beneficial for the Muskasath-Itwari Kirana traders, providing them modern facilities in the new premises.

 

The Chikhli Market Yard is expected to become a major commercial hub in Central India. For a quite long, the association was planning to start construction of the new market. But for one of the other reasons, the project got delayed. However, now the shifting the existing grocery market located in the narrow lanes of Itwari and Maskasath to a state-of-the-art facility at mouza Chikhli (Deo) will soon be a reality. The Nagpur Itwari Kirana Merchants Association, the body of 665 merchants building the project, is building the market with an estimated investment of Rs 250-300 crore.

 

The construction work of the proposed market on a 16 acre land is expected to be over in next two years. The association has a target to shift all the existing kirana shops in Itwari and Maskasath to the new facility. It will have a spacious parking space, broad internal roads, a space of at least 1000 square feet area for all the 665 occupants, solar power system, rainwater harvesting facility, round the clock security, waste water treatment plant and other modern facilities. It is important to note that the existing kirana market in the Itwari and Maskasath area lacks all such facilities because of which merchants and even the customers face hardship. As it is one of the oldest markets in the city, there is no proper space for vehicle parking. The new location at Chikhli (Deo) is at a distance of about 3.5 km from the existing Itwari-Maskasath area. It is in the vicinity of the Kalamna market yard and thus the merchants have no fears of losing the customers.