The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has pressed the pause button on the Park Circus market’s handover to Reliance despite taking Rs 30.33 crore from the company five months ago.

The civic body seems to have frozen the move for political reasons, though there has been no official statement yet on why it has not kept its part of the deal. “Given the outcome of the panchayat elections, the message from the CPM headquarters on Alimuddin Street is to go slow on the transfer,” a source in the CMC said.

Temporary rehabilitation of traders who operate from the market would have begun in March and the existing structure pulled down this month had the CMC adhered to the timeline fixed in its agreement with Reliance.

Reliance officials declined comment on the impasse, but a source who was privy to the deal said the company understood the political compulsions of the government and was ready to wait — perhaps even tweak its business model — to make the transition smooth.

“Companies like Spencers and Food Bazaar are doing business in similar format, which indicates that political opposition is more towards the name Reliance than anything else. The company may, therefore, delay opening shoe or jewellery stores in Bengal,” the source said.

Industry minister Nirupam Sen said only last week that the Left Front government would not go ahead with any project without a consensus at the grassroots. That is exactly where the Park Circus Market handover could get stuck.

Abdullah Ansari of the Park Circus Market Bachao Committee said the 400 traders doing business there were against the Reliance project. “No one has discussed temporary or permanent rehabilitation proposals with us. Why should we vacate the market?” asked Ansari, who has a shop in the two-storeyed market.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya would only say that the CMC and Reliance were “passing through a phase of mutual endurance”.

Before signing on the dotted line, Reliance had got the CMC to agree to a “responsibility matrix” meant to ensure time-bound execution of the project.

The civic body asked for minor modifications to the document, to which the company promptly agreed. The memorandum of understanding was signed shortly after.

“The timeline agreed to by both sides could not be met because the civic body authorities were awaiting clearance from their political bosses, who wanted to wait till the panchayat polls. It has now become more difficult,” the CMC source said.

A Reliance proposal to develop a children’s park adjacent to the proposed rehabilitation site for traders on Park Circus Maidan is gathering dust, too.

“We will not clear such a proposal in haste. It is a touchy issue,” Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, the mayoral council member in charge of parks and gardens, said.

(With inputs from Sambit Saha)