Kolkata: After inspecting Lansdowne Market on Sunday, state urban development and municipal affairs minister, Agnimitra Paul, urged the traders there to set aside politics and cooperate with the developer for the long-pending redevelopment of the market. The redevelopment project has been stalled for nearly four decades.“A market should be a place where people could enjoy shopping. It is a pleasure for shoppers to buy fish and other things from a clean market. But that is not so at Lansdowne Market, which is situated at one of the prime locations in the city. Some of the shops have been occupied by unauthorized people. There is filth all around. The pavements around the market are also occupied,” the minister said. She inspected the market with KMC commissioner-cum-administrator, Smita Pandey.Large portions of the old market have already been demolished for the redevelopment. A small section of the British-era structure with around 20 grocery and general goods shops still functions from there. In another corner, a bare-shell structure built in phases over the past two decades accommodates chicken and fish stalls. During the visit, Paul released dozens of pigeons from a cage at one of the stalls.“I want all unauthorized goods to be removed from the market. If stall owners do not operate shops, allot them to others, who are doing business on the pavement or on the road,” the minister told the market official.Paul also met developer Pawan Kajaria, who had secured the tender to redevelop the 7-bigha market plot off Sarat Bose Road between 1987 and 1988, during the Left govt’s regime. The project has made barely any progress due to the cases filed by the traders’ association and resistance from local strongmen.“We have plans to develop a 4.5 lakh sq ft G+9 market on the ground floor and a mall above,” the developer said. He claimed that after meeting the ministerhe was hopeful that the work, which had been pending for long, would be done now.
