CHAPLETON, St Catherine — Pearnel Charles, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member of parliament for Clarendon, is expected to meet with the St Catherine Parish Council, by month-end, to discuss conditions at the Chapleton Market.

In the meantime, he has assured vendors who ply their wares there that he has been pushing to have the Council upgrade the facility.

“The state of the market has been in a deplorable condition for many years now. I have made recommendation to the parish council for them to upgrade the market,” Charles told the Observer.

According to the MP, the facility is not as vibrant as it used to be, as most of the activities have been shifted to the May Pen Market.

Vendors have long complained about conditions in the Chapleton Market, contending that many of the problems were structural ones that needed to be addressed by the Council. The problems, they said, include:

* the inadequate water supply,

* a leaking roof,

* the irregular washing of the market houses and

* the obnoxious stench emanating from the meat and fish areas.

One vendor told the Observer that whenever it rains “mi haffi get tarpaulin fi spread over mi things dem, to prevent them from rain water”.

Another vendor, who said she has sold her goods at the market since it was built in 1980, told the Observer that she could not recall ever seeing the facility washed.

When the Observer visited the scene, the small room that serves as the market’s office reeked with the stench of stale urine, which stained the floors. The office was also without a door.

“All mad man come sleep in ya,” one vendor said.

Over in the secondary market house, a female vendor pointed to a section of the roof, where a sheet of zinc was missing.

“Imagine, we haffi pay $200 to $300 a week to parish council for market fee,” she complained.

The vendors maintain that a man is employed on a part-time basis to clean the facility, but they contended that he does not use enough cleaning agents to disinfect the area.

Efforts to contact the Council’s commercial services manager, Andre Wilshire, were unsuccessful.