Our markets shall be getting facelifts soon. At a meeting held recently between civic officials and block market representatives, several new plans were mooted, primary among which was renovation.
“Rs 2.5 crore has been earmarked for market renovation,” said Rajesh Chirimar, mayoral council member in charge of markets. “Block markets are now facing tremendous competition from online avenues as well as malls and we need to spruce them up. We are in the process of estimating costs now but work will begin within this financial year.”
Salt Lake has 16 official markets recognised by Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation — those in AA, AB-AC, AE, BD, BJ, CA, CE, CK, EC, FB (near Falguni Abasan), FD, GD, IA and IB blocks along with markets in and around Baisakhi and Karunamoyee complexes. Out of these, the first phase of renovation will take place in about six of them.
“Besides repairs, markets that don’t have gates will get them, drinking water facilities will be provided and some centre of attraction will be set up to draw footfall. This could be something like a children’s play area,” Chirimar said.
Rs 60 lakh has been earmarked for Baisakhi Market that will additionally get a shed and boundary wall. IB Block, that has fewer shops, should get about Rs 20 lakh. Work has been on at BD Market for a while now and about Rs 20 to 30 lakh would be allotted to complete it.
“FB Market, though with few shops, needs repairs and a ladies toilet. Karunamoyee Market needs minor work too. For GD Market, we have submitted a detailed project report to the state government seeking funds as the corporation’s funds may not be enough for it,” he said.
Revenue influx
The board has more in store than simply renovation plans. “The corporation receives about Rs 40 lakh rent a year from markets. This is calculated from the Rs 3/sq ft per month that shops are charged. But we have arrears of Rs 1.4 crore,” explained Chirimar.
“One reason for this is that many shops have not opened at all. These leaseholders occupy space behind downed shutters but neither pay rent nor provide service to customers. As a result, the overall footfall to these markets suffer.”
Chunks missing from the ceiling and lattice in FB Market
The civic body has now asked market committees to identify such closed shops. “Once their leases expire, we shall re-acquire them and give them out to new vendors,” Chirimar said. “Shops in Sector I markets had their original lease deeds drawn up for about 30 years. Many of those have expired too and we shall simplify their renewal process.”
Lots of shops have illegally changed hands over the years and the civic body wants to regularise these. “We shall charge Rs 250/sq ft to transfer a shop to a blood relative. To transfer to an outsider it will cost Rs 500/sq ft. In the grey market, shops have been changing hands for Rs 25-40 lakh. We are charging less than that to legalise their papers. We shall make the documentation simple and process everything within one month. Trade licence applications have also gone online and we shall set up help desks to help vendors with all of these,” he said.
Chirimar expects the civic body to earn Rs 40-50 lakh from the name transfers and renewal of leases. But after renovation, they may contemplate a hike in rent. “We shall provide upgraded services in return. For instance, we shall arrange a 24x7 helpline for shops in case of civic problems. Our workers shall go over at any time of the day and address their issues,” he said.
However, shopkeepers will also have to make adjustments. “We have found many vendors staying back at the market at night and even cooking there. These pose fire hazards and must be stopped,” Chirimar said.
Rods exposed on walls in GD Market
Marketspeak
Response from the markets has been positive overall. “Our demands have been long-standing but we are happy the authorities are finally ready to implement them,” said Shyamal Kanti Roy, secretary of Bidhannagar Kendriya Bajar Byabsayee Samity that comprises all 16 block markets.
“Urgent repairs are needed in Baisakhi, IB, GD, AA, FB Market etc. The first floor of CK Market needs drinking water facilities and despite damages to its roof, there is no staircase for labourers to reach the top for repair work. It’s the same in several other markets,” said Roy. “Market committees also want an office space to conduct their business.”
But vendors claim the proposed charge of changing ownership — Rs 500/sq ft — is too steep and want it revised to Rs 300. Shut shops to reopen The two markets with the highest number of shutter-down shops must be AA and IB markets and vendors here are desperately waiting for the corporation to reopen them. “Out of 30 shops here, about 25 are shut,” said secretary of AA Market’s association, Himadri Chatterjee. They have a fridge repair shop, laundry, grocery, vegetable and fish shop and little else. One shop has apparently been rented out to some outsider to live in.
“The alottees won’t open their shops but are waiting for prices to increase so they can sell them off at a profit.”IB Market, that already has some repair work going on, has a single ask. “We want all the shops to open. Only about 30 out of 85 shops are open now and it affects footfall,” said secretary Prakash Singh, who runs a stationery shop. “Customers don’t come here as they know they won’t get everything they need.”
Rusted and leaking tin roofs at CE Market.
No more night stay
Many shopkeepers and staff tend to stay back at night but the new rules would put an end to this. “If someone lives in Bonga, when would he reach home and when would he arrive the next morning to open shop? It’s impractical,” said secretary of AB-AC Market Srikanta Hazra.
Raju Midda of IB Block says such people usually go home once a week on the market’s weekly off day. “The pandemic-induced slump in business will not let us afford rent space to live in Salt Lake either,” he added. But GD Market secretary Kanchan Baidya is planning ahead. “We cannot fight the rule if it gets implemented. We shall try to hire shared accommodation for staff of five or so shops so it’s affordable,” he says.
Construction repairs FB Market is one of the most neglected. The building has chunks missing, and much of the staircase wall facing the exterior has broken off. Vendors are relieved to hear repairs will begin soon. “This building quakes when trucks drive by on the street outside. The ceiling leaks rainwater into our shops,” says Mousumi Sanyal, who runs the Lady’s World parlour on the first floor. “The market’s shutters have broken so slum dwellers sleep here at night. The top floor is reserved for drinking and smoking marijuana. We want a security guard to stop all this.”
Exposed wires hanging from the ceiling of AB-AC Market
Newly built stalls in BD Market waiting for vendors to move in
The toilet here is treated as public property too, used freely by slum-dwellers. “I’ve installed locks on its door several times but they break not just the locks but also the door. Once they stole the entire door!” says Sanyal.
“The water connection to the toilet has stopped and my staff has to carry water from the parlour downstairs. But the slum-dwellers and bus drivers who use the toilet do not care. They leave the toilet clogged and stinking!”Chirimar has acknowledged that this market needs a ladies toilet.Then there are markets like CA, where repairs have been on since 2017 but work isn’t satisfactory. “Our councillor is trying but the contractor is errant. Despite making sheds, rainwater gushes in through gaps and drenches customers and vendors. The ceiling above vegetable sellers leaks so badly that they have had to put up tarpaulin sheets for shelter. It mars the beauty of a newly renovated market and defeats the purpose of spending lakhs of rupees on repairs,” says market secretary Arun Roy.
Electric connections
Markets like AB-AC and CE need their wiring sorted. “When our distribution box was installed we had five or six shops. Now we have 70 but that same box continues to serve us,” says Anandamohan Jati, secretary of the market who himself runs an electric shop. “Every now and then, the system overloads and half the shops spend the evening in darkness. The electricity board has warned us repeatedly to get a bigger box to avert accidents. The wiring too is a mess and we need a system six times bigger than the existing one.” CE Market’s water tank needs to be replaced with a bigger one and the sewerage system needs overhauling. At present, the sewerage backflows about once a month. The market needs a shed, ceiling repairs, cycle stand and parking lot. “The authorities are trying to turn the empty plot next door into a garbage vat but we want it to be a parking lot,” says Jati.
Most shops in AA Market are shut and one even has a resident. Pictures by Brinda Sarkar
Legal tangles
At Baisakhi, the authorities shall renovate the shops lying right next to the Island. This leaves out scores of hawkers squatting behind the mall there but Chirimar says those are beyond the ambit of the corporation.
The hawkers sitting in the temporary market behind the mall have been selling since the 1970s. Then in 2008, the CPM-led civic body asked them to move into a field so the mall could be built and they be accommodated inside it. The vendors paid the municipality between Rs 10,000 and 20,000 for mall space but despite the mall opening in 2014, they have not received possession certificates from the civic body to move in.
Chirimar declined comment on these hawkers citing legal issues. “The shops next to the Island are the ones that pay us rent and the ones we are accountable to. They shall get sheds, boundary walls, gates etc,” he said.
A huge — but never opened — edifice called Falguni Market lies behind the dilapidated FB Market but again, there is no word about who would move into it. “That building is very old and it appears that 81 people were allotted chatal space and shops there but none of them have approached me since I have assumed office. I want genuine alottees to move in there and will start legal vetting on the issue.”
But all said and done, vendors across markets are doubtful of implementation of the plans, given the corporation’s cash-strapped situation. “We will believe it when work starts,” one of them said.
Write to saltlake@abp.in