The renovation of the old complex of the 150-year-old New Market will require some shops to be shifted to strengthen the building, senior officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said on Tuesday.
Senior engineers of the civic body will inspect the market on Thursday.
The renovation of the market — the roofs leak when it rains and chunks have come off the ceiling — has been long overdue.
The KMC has been discussing the project since the beginning of the year but work has not yet started.
“We have to install underground tie beams to strengthen the building. The work will be done in phases.... Some of the shops may have to be shifted when work is underway in the row where they are located,” said Amiruddin (Boby), the mayoral council member in charge of the KMC’s market department.
“The tie beams would protect the structure during earthquakes,” said Ami-
ruddin.
The KMC is responsible for the upkeep of around 50 public markets in the city, the oldest being Sir Stuart Hogg Market, also called New Market.
The KMC had hired Jadavpur University (JU) to prepare a detailed project report
for the renovation of New Market.
“We submitted the report about a year ago. Our focus was on maintaining the
heritage status of the market during the renovation without compromising on the structural stability,” said Gokul Mondal, a professor of construction engineering at JU.
In the Graded List of Heritage Buildings, published by the KMC in 2009, New Market is listed as a grade-I heritage structure for its “architectural style”.
According to the rule, “no external change” can be made to a grade-I heritage building and the “use of the building should be compatible to the category of the heritagebuilding”.
A senior KMC engineer said the renovation has to be done with caution to prevent any impact on the facade or the external features of the building.
“We have to build underground tie beams to strengthen the building. The underground construction will require shifting some shops when the work crosses a stretch. All of this has to be planned in more detail. The inspection on Thursday will look into this issue,” said the engineer.
A civil engineer not associated with the KMC said a tie beam ties all the vertical structures. “An earthquake is a horizontal force acting on vertical structures. The tie beams will hold together the vertical structures,” he said.
Amiruddin said the urban development and municipal affairs department hasallocated ₹26 crore for therenovation.
“The old complex of New Market (which will be renovated) has about 700 shops selling garments, jewellery and confectioneries. A separate project has to be drawn up for the renovation of the other sections of the market,” he said.
The clock tower, too, is in a bad condition.
“We hired a company which said the stairs leading to the top of the tower can crumble any day. The stairs have to be repaired first,” said Amiruddin.
