ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: The traders of Fruit and Vegetable Market, Islamabad, have refused to construct remaining portion of the boundary wall, saying they cannot bear the expense as they had suffered losses due to heavy rain on July 23, Dawn has learnt on Tuesday.

Sources said a meeting of CDA officials was held here on Tuesday to discuss the issue. The meeting, presided over by the CDA chairman and the chief commissioner, Islamabad, Mir Laiq Shah, was attended by the deputy commissioner, Tariq Mehmood, senior officials of the CDA and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and army monitoring team.

The meeting was informed that the estimated cost of the wall construction was Rs7 million. The participants were informed that the CDA had constructed two-third portion of the boundary wall, and the remaining portion had to be constructed by the traders according to an agreement. The chief commissioner was informed that the traders had expressed their inability to fulfil their promises in this regard.

The chief commissioner formed a committee, headed by the additional deputy commissioner (general), Mr Shahrukh, to talk to the representatives of the Fruit and Vegetable Market Traders Association (FVMTA) to resolve the issue. First meeting of the committee will be held on Wednesday.

The meeting also expressed dissatisfaction over security arrangements in and around the market. The chief commissioner was informed that the market had been declared a “high alert area”, but the police personnel were not carrying out body search of the people at the entrance points. Moreover, no police official was seen there after sunset.

Mr Shah took serious notice of the situation and directed the authorities concerned to take effective security measures in the market, where about 175 shops are located.

The meeting further directed the traders of the market not to collect entry fee from the truck drivers as it would be collected by the CDA administration and this amount would be utilised for the improvement of the market.

A representative of the traders asked the ICT administration to complete the under construction parking area outside the market to avoid frequent traffic jams.