Purple Line Esplanade stn hits Bidhan Mkt hawker brick wall
Times of India | 19 November 2025
Kolkata: Work on Joka-Esplanade Metro has come to a halt with BC Roy Market hawkers refusing to shift to a newly built temporary location. The old structure, popularly known as Maidan Market or Bidhan Market, has to be demolished to make way for the Purple Line's Esplanade station.
RVNL, which is implementing the 14 km Joka-Esplanade corridor that now runs 8 km from Joka to Majerhat, has built rows of stalls with storage space, shutters and collapsible gates at the Mounted Police grounds, a stone's throw from the market. Eighty stall owners, based on a list prepared by KMC, were supposed to relocate to the new venue in June. Subsequently, the civic body had said that all the 528 hawkers at BC Roy Market must shift at once.
Now that the new BC Roy Market is almost ready, complete with with 528 stalls, RVNL has been informed that the hawkers will not move. "The hawkers are now saying that those ‘owning' stalls, transferred by the original occupants, should also be considered. However, the market has no legal status, according to the Army, custodian of the Maidan, where BC Roy Market currently stands. The stalls are non-transferable. The list of 528 hawkers was prepared by the PWD and KMC, based on some proof of occupancy. The railways cannot rehabilitate project-affected persons (PAPs) without valid occupancy," a Railways official said.
But Kishore Manglani, spokesperson for the Maidan Market association, seemed firm in their stand. "We have written to PWD about conditions that must be fulfilled before the relocation," he said.
But this refusal has stalled the construction of the 300 m x 40 m Esplanade station box, most of which will be located at the market's site. TOI reported on Nov 19, 2024, that the country's oldest Mounted Police club would house the BC Roy Market temporarily for three years for the Esplanade station work. Another TOI report on Nov 15, 2024, mentioned the ministry of defence clearing the market relocation to the Mounted Police compound after RVNL revised plans and split the station work in three phases. According to the plan, the hawkers are to be shifted to the 100-m Mounted Police land, while the basic station structure is built. Next, the hawkers will return and the Mounted Police land vacated for another part of the station work. After three years, a permanent BC Roy Market will be built atop the Purple Line's Esplanade station.
Fresh bids had to be invited, and an earlier one for a permanent BC Roy Market next to the Green Line's Esplanade station was cancelled since MoD in March 2024 did not agree to allotting permanent space to the ‘illegal' market at Curzon Park, an integral part of the Maidan.