The block community markets across all the three sectors of Salt lake are set to get revamped, a senior official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said.
There are 16 community markets in Salt Lake and they include markets situated inside residential blocks like BD, CA, AB-AC, AA, CK, BJ, IA, IB, EC, FB, FD, GD, CE among others.
Apart from these there is the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) market located inside the Karunamoyee Housing Complex that also houses the Salt Lake cyber crime police station and the office of the deputy commissioner, Bidhannagar zone I, of the Bidhannagar commissionerate.
Another is located near the Baisakhi Island that is divided into two sectors. One is near the island itself and the other is a temporary market behind the AMP Baisakhi Mall. Of these markets the one in IB block, FB Block and the AA Block market have not been as successful in terms of sales like the other markets of Salt Lake and many shops in these markets are shuttered up due to abysmally low footfall.
In AA Block, only five stores of 30 shops are operational while in IB Market a handful of shops open everyday including one that sells rice. The situation is similar in FB Block market where less than a dozen shops are operational.
The BMC has already conducted a survey and has found out that the state of the FB Block market in a very bad shape that is in need of urgent repairs while the one in IB block is in a similar state. The AA market too has fallen into disrepair.
All these three markets have a similar set of issues including chunks falling off the ceiling, broken glass panels, faulty and very old electrical wiring and abysmally dirty and near defunct toilet complexes.
A senior official of the civic body's market department said that they have already started repairs at the BD Block market that has a roof that leaks water onto shopkeepers and customers alike in several places whenever it rains. Repairs have also been done in some areas of the GD and CK markets while others others like the AB-AC market are still waiting for repairs to be carried out.
According to another civic official, the repairs will be conducted in phases, starting with the ones that need the most urgent repairs.
The condition of a section of BD Market. Picture by Debasmita Bhattacharjee
“The FB block market, the one in IB block, CK market and several others are in crying need for structural repairs. While some have developed cracks on the façades of the buildings, chunks falling off ceilings in all the markets is a common affair among other problems including undulating and slippery floors that can cause a big accident at any point of time,” the official said.
Rajesh Chirimar, the mayoral council member in charge of markets, said that based on the survey report the repairs will be carried out and a fund of as 2.5 crore has been set aside for renovating the markets of Salt Lake.
According to Chirimar, they have prepared a detailed project report for the renovation of markets across all the three sectors of Salt Lake and sent the proposal for allocation of funds to the state government for clearance and release of the funds “We have already started work at BD Market and work will also start in CK and Baisakhi markets soon. We hope to complete the renovation work of at least two block markets in Salt Lake before Durga Puja,” said Chirimar.
Shyamal Kanti Roy, the secretary of the Bidhannagar Kendriya Bajar Byabsayee Samity — an umbrella body of all 16 block markets in Salt Lake — however pointed out that even the markets that have been repaired in the past don't meet even the basic standards or workmanship.
“The CA Block market had been repaired two years back but the quality of repair has been such that the roof leaks till date. Bad quality work has also been reported in the BD market,” said Roy.
At CA Market, several shopkeepers claimed that customers slipping on the marble floor rendered slippery by water seeping in through the roof whenever it rained was a common affair. In addition to this, a shutter on one of the gates has remained immobile for at least the last two decades due to which the gate cannot be opened fully.
“We have approached the civic body several times and have sent put countless letters to get these issues sorted. However after work finished in 2017 the civic body has not taken any action to address these problems,” a section of shopkeepers told this newspaper on Wednesday.
In BD Block, too, shopkeepers gave a similar feedback about the shoddy nature of work carried out in the name of repairs and renovation.“The work on renovating this market got partially over in 2017 and even though there are a lot of problems including leaky roofs and a cracks on the market building nothing has been done till date,” the BD Market shopkeepers said.
The partially repaired CK Market wears a brighter look than most other civic markets. Debasmita Bhattacharjee
Roy has also listed some amenities that every market must have including proper toilet complexes for both men and women, structural stability and paint for the structures as well as drinking water facilities as well as proper drainage and solid waste management systems.
“Many of the markets in Salt Lake have wet segments that sell fish, meat and poultry. Some even have food stalls and take away counters where food is cooked. Understandably the amount and variety of waste items generated from these marketplaces is both huge and varied. We need proper waste management systems in place alongwith provisions for segregation of the waste at source. In most of the markets even though the civic body has placed dedicated vats and municipal waste collection teams visit regularly still a section of our shopkeepers tend to open gully pits and dump them into them,” said Roy.
This results in clogged drains as well as raise a stink. CK Market is one such example and both the residents as well as visitors have to cover their noses whenever they're near the market.