Labourers demolish Nandaram Market without bothering to ensure that the debris does not fall on the road from above. A Telegraph picture

Traders and tenants of Tirpalpatti had a tiff with the contractor engaged by the civic body to demolish the “dangerous and unsafe parts” of the Nandaram Market complex on Monday morning.

They complained that the contractor’s men had been throwing concrete chunks from the terrace of Kashiram block into the area occupied by Tirpalpatti Traders and Tenants Association. “An enclosure has been created for dumping the chunks, yet the workers are throwing the debris in our area,” said a trader. “The contractor is also trying to set up a tin shed in Tirpalpatti to keep their equipment,” he added

“The workers have ignored our repeated pleas to climb down the stairs and dump the concrete,” said Mohammed Bhati, the secretary of the Tirpalpatti Traders and Tenants Association. “They even brought police on Monday to browbeat us into letting them set up the shed in our area.”

The 500-odd traders declared that they would not allow the shed to come up in their area without “proper measurement of the land and consultation with the landlord”.

The situation was brought under control after the police refused permission to the contractor to set up the shed in Tirpalpatti.

“Ever since the blaze, the traders have been feeling insecure. So, the move to set up the shed triggered fears of dispossession,” said Uma Shankar Jha, the officer-in-charge of Burrabazar police station.

The building department of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation started demolishing parts of Nandaram Market above the sixth floor and parts of the adjoining Kashiram block on February 5, after completing the demolition drive in Tirpalpatti.

The drive had once been hampered when the labourers started demolishing the top floors of Nandaram without using any net or cover.

A labourer was injured during the drive.