HYDERABAD, Feb 22: Even after the passing of five days, the civic bodies have failed to drain out filthy rain water as a result of which business in the only fruit and vegetable market of the city on Hali Road has been badly affected.

The shopkeepers and commission agents had either shifted their goods on the main road of the Sabzi Mandi Chowk or on the Gharib Nawaz Bridge soon after the rains. This has resulted in chaotic traffic conditions.

A visit to the market by this correspondent revealed that the vegetable and fruit market was stinking with the smell of stagnant water ever since Monday’s heavy downpour. The Market Committee, which is supposed to look after it, has apparently turned a blind eye as a result of which fruit and vegetable commission agents are incurring huge monetary losses.

The office bearers of the wholesale merchants groups claimed that the stagnant rainwater was destroying their fruits and vegetables.

The rain water had entered all the shops of the market because of their being no drainage system. The shopkeepers had to take painstaking efforts to drain it out because the sanitation staff of the Taluka Municipal Administration of Latifabad did not turn up. Besides, the Market Committee extended no help at all.

While talking to this correspondent, some shopkeepers criticized the Market Committee for its inefficiency and lethargy.

“The Market Committee receives between Rs100,000 to Rs150,000 every month as its fees from us. But it never bothers to cater to the needs of commission agents and the shop owners of the Mandi,” a commission agent claimed requesting anonymity.

The bad stench emanating from a mixed combination of filthy water and heaps of garbage makes it extremely difficult to even breathe.