The prestigious market that has been named after the first Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Ayyadevara Kaleswara Rao will join the list of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation assets that are to be mortgaged for procuring loan.

Vastralatha, I.V. Palace and K.B.N. Shopping Complex have already been mortgaged to the HUDCO for a loan of Rs.100 crore.

The Municipal Corporation that is cash strapped has now approached the Corporation Bank for a fresh loan. The Municipal Corporation offered assets like the Ajitsinghnagar Sewage Treatment Plant and the Makineni Basavapunnaiah Municipal Corporation Stadium as collateral, but the bank wanted something with some real estate value and remunerative and selected the Kaleswara Rao Market which is now known as “K.R. Market”, mainly because the APSRTC always abbreviates names on its name boards.

Columnist and authority on the history of the city Andavalli Satyanarayana told The Hindu that the Kaleswara Rao Market was in existence in 1946. “The Netaji Statue was unveiled in 1947 and by then the market was already there,” he added.

Without touching the old building the Municipal Corporation pulled down sheds that were used for sale of vegetables, groceries and other household items and built a commercial complex when the Left parties were at the helm of affairs. An underground cellar was created for parking.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has already gone to the public about the VMC's proposal to mortgage the “landmark”. The party said that it was completely against mortgaging of buildings to raise funds. The CPI(M) state executive member Ch. Babu Rao said that the VMC was due nearly Rs.180 crore grants from State and Centre under various schemes.

The officials who were not doing anything to collect that amount were more interested in going for a bank loan. In 10 years the amount the VMC owes to the bank would double and then it would become a big burden to repay. Then the corporation would have no option but to let go of the assets, Mr. Babu Rao pointed out.