The traders and commuters at the city’s vegetable market near Jalandhar Bypass are struggling with the poor condition of the area with stagnant rainwater, rotting vegetable waste and an unbearable foul smell during the monsoon, alleging the authorities of neglected sanitation.Waste at vegetable market in Ludhiana on Sunday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)They allege that the poor sanitation and irregular cleaning have turned one of the city busiest markets into a place where even standing for a few minutes has become difficult.Kawaljit Singh, a trader at the mandi said that the problem begins every time it rains. “Vegetable waste and garbage remain lying around for days blocking the drains . As a result rainwater has nowhere to go and gets collected across the market. The water remains stagnant for days spreading a foul smell. One cannot even sit here for 10 minutes. Earlier cleaning used to happen regularly but ever since the work was handed over to a contractor, workers come only once or twice a week. They clean a little and leave. If we complain they usually come after two or three days” he alleged.The poor condition has also left customers disappointed. Neha Gupta a regular visitor to the mandi said that every visit feels the same. “There is vegetable waste lying around water is collected at several places and the smell is unpleasant. In some areas the condition is so bad that I avoid walking through them because it becomes difficult to even cross” she said.Traders said that they are not asking for occasional clean-up drives but regular sanitation. They questioned why a market visited by hundreds of people every day continues to face the same problems despite sanitation being assigned to a contractor.When contacted market secretary Harjinder Singh said “Waterlogging is an issue in the area but the market is cleaned regularly. If any negligence is found by the sanitation staff, action will be taken.”Sanitation contractor Pawan Garg also assured that the complaints would be looked into and the area would be cleaned.