Block markets in Salt Lake that cater to the daily needs of residents are in a shambles.
Most have dilapidated buildings that are in crying need of repairs, a maze of wires hanging from dirty ceilings and toilets that don’t function.
Several markets have chunks falling off the ceilings and exposed coils of electrical wires that put shoppers and shopkeepers at risk every day.
Salt Lake has 16 markets that are recognised by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. The markets collect rent from the shopkeepers.
These include the ones AA, AB-AC, AE, BD, BJ, CA, CE, CK, EC, FB (near Falguni Abasan), FD, GD, IA and IB blocks. There are also markets in and around Baisakhi and Karunamoyee housing complexes.
On Friday, Metro visited five markets in the township — BD, AE, FD, GD and IB markets.
At the GD Block market, iron structures had been placed at regular intervals to provide supplementary support to the market’s roof by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
“Chunks fall off the roof on a regular basis. The civic body that is in charge of maintenance work has only put up iron braces to provide support to the roof and to ensure it does not come falling down all at once. We shopkeepers are living in fear, not
only for our own lives but also our customers. There have been instances where shoppers have been injured
after cement chunks came off the roof and fell on or near them,” said Ashim Mondal. He runs a grocery store in the market.
At the AE Block market, the roof is pockmarked as chunks of cement have dislodged leaving the rusted ironwork exposed. Exposed electrical wiring can be spotted nearly everywhere.
Tapas Sengupta, secretary of the AE Block Samaj Kalyan Sangha, a residents’ body, said they had sent a letter to the civic body requesting them to carry out repairs.
He said they had also asked the civic body to ensure a section of hawkers who have
set up stalls on the road leading to the market is shifted and to see that shopkeepers did not block the passages inside the market by stacking up their wares.
“Let alone any action, we have not even received a reply from the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation,” said Sengupta.
At BD market, too, shopkeepers have put up plastic sheets and cloth just below the roof to prevent injuries in case chunks of concrete and iron pieces fall.
Rajesh Chirimar, mayoral council member in charge of markets at the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, said the civic body was in the process of revamping several markets and work was going on in some of them.
According to Chirimar, the market in GD Block was being renovated at an estimated cost of Rs 1.32 crore.
The AB-AC market and the EC market, too, will be repaired at Rs 14 lakh and Rs 33 lakh, respectively, he said.
“We are going to repair the Karunamoyee municipal market complex soon, followed by the CK Block market. Work is already on at the GD market. Tenders have even called to repair the other markets where work estimation and detailed project reports have been submitted,” Chirimar told Metro on Friday.
The civic body is planning to repair all 16 markets in phases, he said.
