The marketplace is not a place for storage nor is it a shop, says Local Government Minister Premila Kumar.
She made the comment in light of complaints by vendors in the West that had lost substantial amounts of stock during Tropical Cyclone Ana.
After touring affected areas in the Western Division this week, Mrs Kumar said vendors needed to understand that the market area was strictly for selling produce.
“One of the major difficulties that we have is that vendors store items at the market,” she said.
“The market is not a place for storage.
“One of the vendors said we have $20,000 to $30,000 worth of items in the market for one vendor only. These are all spices, grog that they are storing there.
“They are basically distributors.”
Ms Kumar said the legislation governing vendors was clear on the issue.
“You just need one stall, but in some instances they want to keep five or six stalls and those are used for storage while a very small space is used for selling.
“The market bylaws are very clear that people need to buy only a certain amount of stock to sell on that particular day.
“The market is not a store or a shop.”
