Calcutta: The Federation of the West Bengal Trade Associations has requested the Centre to allow the traders of Bagree Market to file their income tax returns after September 30, the deadline for businessmen to file their annual returns.

Federation chairman Mahesh Kumar Singhania has written to the director of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, seeking the extension. The federation has more than a thousand trade associations across the state as members.

"All their physical files have been gutted. Most of the computers and pen drives have been destroyed, too. It will be virtually impossible for them to stick to the deadline," said Singhania, who wrote to the board after interacting with traders at Bagree Market. He is yet to get a reply.

The six-storey building is officially home to around 1,200 traders. The front façade of the building has been gutted. The losses could run into hundreds of crores of rupees, the traders fear.

Singhania has requested the GST council to extend one of the return deadlines - September 20 - for the traders and their suppliers and customers. "The entire chain of business has been affected. Both the suppliers and the customers of these traders are in jeopardy," he said.