A trader in tears outside his charred shop

Calcutta, April 12: For Sunil Sahu, Saturday dawned not with the promise of a boom in sales for the approaching wedding season but with the dread of mounting losses if he is unable to resume business soon.

The fire could not have come at a worse time for the traders who had heavily stocked their stalls with flowers for tomorrow’s Basanti Puja and Monday’s Poila Baisakh.

With the Bengali New Year begins the new wedding season.

Sahu, a shop owner at the flower market on the bank of the Hooghly, lost over Rs 80,000 last night.

“Where do I start counting my losses? I have no idea how I will make up for what I have lost,” he said, sitting next to the charred remains of his shop.

Sahadeb Bera has lost about Rs 20,000 worth of flowers but the business he might lose in the days ahead could be several times that figure.

It is the same story for around 245 stall owners in eastern India’s largest flower market.

“The market is usually shut on Saturdays and Sundays. Mondays being big business days, we ready all products by Friday night,” said Bimal Ray, who owns two air-conditioned shops and three other stalls.

His losses in last night’s fire would amount to around Rs 20 lakh.

Ray could not recover any of his documents or the computers from his shops, all of which were burnt.

“It takes more than Rs 8 lakh to just set up an air-conditioned shop. And I had procured many flowers keeping Monday in mind,” rued Ray.

Orders for flowers, placed by shops across Bengal for the New Year, have been cancelled. But the Mullickghat traders have not given up hope.

Some even promised to get back to business as early as Sunday to beat the downturn.

“Our MP, Sudhangshu Sil, has assured us that the debris would be cleared as soon as forensic experts finish collecting samples for tests. We will set up temporary shops to resume sale by tomorrow,” said Asim Sashmol, a member of the Mullickghat Phoolbazar Parichalan Committee.

The traders will be able to set up temporary structures in place of their allotted stalls till a temporary market is set up near the foot of the Howrah Bridge.

Construction of the new bazaar will start once the traders shift to the temporary market.

“We cannot afford to lose out on the business that we get during this season. We are even prepared to clear up the place ourselves if that ensures resumption of business from tomorrow,” said Bera.