The fish and vegetable sellers at Lake Town market who sit in a single-storeyed structure near Jaya cinema, called Lake Town Government Market, will be accommodated in a multi-storeyed market building in the near future.
"The structure is in a dilapidated state. We will rebuild it through a public-private partnership model. We are currently building a three-tender fire station at a side of the plot which will take up four cottahs. The rest of the plot can house the market,” said local MLA and fire and emergency service minister Sujit Bose.
Bose was speaking to The Telegraph Salt Lake on the sidelines of the ground-breaking ceremony of the fire station recently.
A part of the building, in an advanced state of disrepair, is two-storeyed and houses the Lake Town post office, a car rental agency, a newspaper vendor and about 16-17 other stalls on the ground floor. The local police station also used to be situated on the first floor of the same building but has since moved out. That structure is also supposed to be brought down.
“I escaped narrowly twice when chunks of the roof caved in minutes after I shut shop and left for the day. We work with our life and limb at risk every single moment. During monsoon, the roof leaks. I have already lost a printer and a photocopying machine worth over a lakh rupees to water seepage,” said a stall-owner who refused to be named.
About half a dozen electricians from Bagnan and beyond who have no permanent local address and ply their trade depending on telephone calls from clients, sleep in shops after their owners shut for the day.
The stalls were let out during the Congress regime in the state on the basis of interviews of applicants. “The building is around 60 years old. I have never seen any repair happening since the time I took over the business from my father, except the two instances when I undertook some patchwork myself on my portion,” he said.
The market has steadily lost customers due to its sorry state. “The floor gets slushy and slippery during monsoon. The tin shed roof blocks sunlight, making it dark and dingy within. The last time I entered the market must have been before the lockdown in 2020,” said Sougata Dutta, a local resident.
Dip in footfall has led to a sharp decrease in the number of vendors. “They are down to a third of what it used to be. Now you have some flower shops and a stall selling pottery other than a handful of those selling fish and vegetables,” said Dutta.
The market used to have more than 250 stalls but now only half of them are active.
The two-storeyed building that houses the Lake Town post office on the ground floor.
Tapas Das, secretary of the market, blames the decrepit condition of the structure for vendors turning away from the stalls. “Because of the bad situation of the market many vendors are not opening their shops and so the crowd became less. The lack of repair is the only reason for the market losing popularity.” Mitali Sen, an old resident of Lake Town, said: “I have been a loyal customer of this market for 32 years. So it is purely because of habit that I still shop here. But many of my neighbours shop from the government carts because they are cheaper.”
The market is in a very bad condition. It's dark and broken. Nilanjan Das, secretery of the fish market, said: “Before the lockdown, everything was fine but the lockdown hit our business badly as we had to shut down. We are surviving just because we offer our home delivery facilities, otherwise we too would have had to switch to other professions, just like many of our fellow vendors have done. Many of them are now work as security guards, delivery boys etc.”
Almost every vendor in that market said that the main reason behind the reduced footfall is the rise of online shopping. Bijoy Sen, a vegetable vendor whose shopt is almost 50 years old, said: “Sujit Bose had promised us that he would renovate our market after the fire station is built. That is our last hope. Otherwise we will have to think of some other career option to survive.”
A stretch of fallow land behind the current market where the fire station will come up
Residents prefer to visit Patipukur market which is a 10-minute walk away, behind Jaya cinema. “It also helps that you get fresh stock of fish there other than fruits and vegetables,” said Alok Das, another resident.
The plot of land, next to the water tank, where the Lake Town market is located, measures about 27 cottahs. Earlier, the plan was to make the entire plot available for the market building. Now with the fire station taking up a part of the space, a new building plan will have to be drawn up on the reduced space. “We will also need to see if it will be viable for the developer. In the earlier scheme of things, after accommodating the post office, a fire tender and an electric meter room, we could not fit in all the shops on the ground floor. Some had spilt over to the first floor. It was to be a five-storeyed structure with a banquet hall. We will have to sit with the minister within a month and see what it comes to this time,” said an official with the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.
Most stalls at the Lake Town market stay unoccupied.
Debasmita BhattacharjeeTapas Das, secretary of the market, blames the decrepit condition of the structure for vendors turning away from the stalls. "Because of the bad situation of the market many vendors are not opening their shops and so the crowd became less. The lack of repair is the only reason for the market losing popularity." Mitali Sen, an old resident of Lake Town, said: "I have been a loyal customer of this market for 32 years. So it is purely because of habit that I still shop here. But many of my neighbours shop from the government carts because they are cheaper."
The market is in a very bad condition. It's dark and broken. Nilanjan Das, secretery of the fish market, said: "Before the lockdown, everything was fine but the lockdown hit our business badly as we had to shut down. We are surviving just because we offer our home delivery facilities, otherwise we too would have had to switch to other professions, just like many of our fellow vendors have done. Many of them are now work as security guards, delivery boys etc."
Almost every vendor in that market said that the main reason behind the reduced footfall is the rise of online shopping. Bijoy Sen, a vegetable vendor whose shopt is almost 50 years old, said: "Sujit Bose had promised us that he would renovate our market after the fire station is built. That is our last hope. Otherwise we will have to think of some other career option to survive."
Residents prefer to visit Patipukur market which is a 10-minute walk away, behind Jaya cinema. "It also helps that you get fresh stock of fish there other than fruits and vegetables," said Alok Das, another resident.
The plot of land, next to the water tank, where the Lake Town market is located, measures about 27 cottahs. Earlier, the plan was to make the entire plot available for the market building. Now with the fire station taking up a part of the space, a new building plan will have to be drawn up on the reduced space. "We will also need to see if it will be viable for the developer. In the earlier scheme of things, after accommodating the post office, a fire tender and an electric meter room, we could not fit in all the shops on the ground floor. Some had spilt over to the first floor. It was to be a five-storeyed structure with a banquet hall. We will have to sit with the minister within a month and see what it comes to this time," said an official with the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.
