Maidan Mounted cop club to host BC Roy Market hawkers for 3 years
Times of India | 20 November 2024
Kolkata: The country's oldest Mounted Police club will house the BC Roy Market for the next three years to make way for the construction of the Purple Line's Esplanade station. Most of the 300m x 40m Esplanade station box, which is being constructed using the cut-and-cover method, will be located where the market currently stands.
TOI on Nov 15 reported that the ministry of defence (MoD) has finally cleared the shifting of the market. Following this, RVNL, which is implementing the 14km Joka-Esplanade (Purple) Metro corridor, cancelled the old tender for building the BC Roy Market or Bidhan market. The agency has called for a fresh Rs 19 crore bid for a temporary BC Roy Market inside the Kolkata Mounted Police club.
"It will be a single-storey steel structure with 528 stalls. The stalls will have storage space, shutters and collapsible gates for a secure and functional market. The construction will begin soon," a Railways official said.
Last Oct, RVNL had floated another tender for a permanent BC Roy Market, with modern amenities, at Curzon Park — between the accesses of the East-West Metro or Green Line's Esplanade station. In March this year, just when the Metro project's underground section, which suffered several logjams, litigations and approval issues, gained momentum, the MoD refused relocation of the "unauthorized" market to Curzon Park. "The old tender now stands cancelled and a new one has been invited as per revised plans," an official said.
RVNL has also revised the Esplanade station's construction sequence. It is now being built in phases, instead of all at once. "The 528 traders of BC Roy Market would be temporarily sent to the Mounted Police grounds. RVNL has already built a temporary paddock for the Kolkata Police horses on the Shahid Minar grounds," the official said.
The MoD, which already accorded RVNL working permission for the Mounted Police and Shahid Minar sites, is okay with the revised plans, including the one relating to market shifting. RVNL has proposed building a permanent market atop the Purple Line's Esplanade station.
The existing BC Roy Market lacks basic amenities for stall owners and shoppers. The array of unkempt stalls across narrow corridors is cramped with goods. The market not only looks ramshackle but is also a fire hazard. "Although it has always been popular as a place where reasonably priced sports goods are available, the market is considered an eyesore, prompting our department to plan a thorough revamp earlier," a PWD official said.