Task force meet at Nabanna over BC Roy market shift
Times of India | 12 July 2026
Kolkata: The impasse over the relocation of BC Roy Market was the focus at the meeting, held by a high-level task force at Nabanna on Saturday, which aimed at clearing the major site acquisition hurdle for the Purple Line’s underground Esplanade terminal station.
Implementing agency RVNL requires the temporary relocation of 528 stall owners to build the Esplanade station at the very location of the market but traders are demanding guaranteed tenancy rights, which the defence ministry, custodian of the Maidan area where the “illegal” market is located, is refusing to grant.
The state PWD oversees the market’s upkeep. RVNL has built temporary stalls next to where the old one now stands. But the stall owners have refused to budge. The Purple Line’s Esplanade station must be built on the location of the old market.
Saturday’s meeting sought to resolve the dispute with stall owners to avoid further delay, particularly as key contractors, L&T, expressed its reluctance to build the Esplanade station due to uncertainties.
There is an air of optimism now that the state and Centre are being run by the same government. When railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited on June 6, the state set up a 20-member special task force to expedite delayed metro and the 61 railway projects, stalled over land disputes. Chaired by chief secretary Manoj Agarwal, the task force includes senior bureaucrats and railway officials. “The task force acts as a unified platform for both state and central authorities to fast-track rail networks. It will surely facilitate the projects now,” a railway official said.