By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Jan 3: The Ulubari Mahila Pasoli Bazar (UMXB) in Guwahati, State’s only vegetable market being conducted and maged by women in the state on every Sunday, is being shifted to a permanent place soon.
Ulubari Mahila Xak-Pasoli Byobaxayi Santha (UMXBS) president Mamoni Bordoloi told this reporter: “The women vegetable market, popularly known as Garo Bazaar among the local people, was started some 60 years ago near Kachari Basti where Garo and other tribal women sell their home-grown vegetables, fruits and other products. My grandmother and others sold their products in this market. Now I and many other women like me sell vegetables like local arum, ba, green leafy vegetables grown only in hill areas, local fowl, chicken and other products from various places. Over 300 women vendors come every Sunday to the city with vegetables and other products from Barpeta, lbari, Sopur, Byrnihat, Boko, Singra and other places. The vendors carry their products together in vehicles from their tive places to the city and to back after selling their products. Over 160 women vendors come from Barpeta to eke out a living.”
“In 2004, the market was shifted to the present place near the Samshan Haat due to problems in doing business in its earlier location. However, here also the local boys harass the women in selling their products and take money forcibly. In such a backdrop, an NGO, Step came forward for our help, and we formed a market committee in 2005 to run the market peacefully. We, through the committee in consultation with Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), applied for a permanent market place to continue our business,” Bordoloi said.
A vendor from Barpeta, Hiran Barman, said: “We, 10 to 15 women from Barpeta, come to the market together by train on every Sunday and reach the city around four to five o’clock in the morning to sell vegetables in the market. We bring vegetables together in a truck to the market place. To make vegetables reach the market place on Sunday morning, we have to send the truck on Saturday night from Barpeta. The market starts early in the morning and runs the whole day. After the market, we go back by train at night. We earn a reasoble amount from the market to run our families for the next six days of the week. There are over 160 women coming from Barpeta to this market. All are from poor families.”
Another vendor from Byrnihat said: “We have been coming to the market for many years. This is easy for us as the market is only for women vendors and also maged by women. People like to buy products from here as we sell fresh products at reasoble rates. Popular persolities like Nipon Goswami, Dinesh Das and many administrative officers come to this market and buy vegetables.”
Sanjib Ali of Step, which helped the vendors run the market, said: “This market is the only market being run by women in the State. We want to make women empowerment through helping women vendors to run the market. All the vendors in the market are from poor families who help their husbands in running their families. Maximum vendors are illiterate and so except vending vegetables, they do not have any other way to earn money. We talked to the GMC authority who assured us of giving a permanent market place soon for these women. According to tiol Street Vendor Act 2015, GMC has conducted the survey of all the vendors of the city and selected 8,000 vendors to provide them registration numbers and a place and many women from this market have also been selected in the first phase. The GMC made five zones for these vendors and this market falls in the central zone. Accordingly, GMC assured us to provide a permanent market place for these women in a nearby area. Meanwhile, we helped them make a rest house for the vendors coming from distant places, trainings on maging the market and to know the legal side of the business etc.”