Kolkata: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said in the state Assembly on Monday that his department has allocated Rs 26.18 crore for rejuvenation of New Market in Kolkata.
“The Kolkata Municipal Corporation entrusted Jadavpur University (JU) with the responsibility of conducting a detailed study on how the market can be revived keeping its heritage value intact. The JU team was given Rs 64.82 crore as fees for doing the survey work. We will start work as soon as we get the survey report,” Hakim said in reply to a query from Trinamool Congress Kandi MLA
Apurba Sarkar. The renovation work involves not only strengthening of the market’s roof, walls and pillars, but also taking care of its long-term durability. Being a brick masonry building, cement intervention cannot be made while repairing.
The heritage New Market is the first municipal market in Kolkata that opened on January 1, 1874.
There are over 2000 shops selling a variety of things in the market. In reply to a query from Siliguri MLA, Sankar Ghosh, Hakim stated that the state had adopted zero tolerance when it comes to encroachments on government lands. “We have a land policy in place. Not a single inch of land is offered to anyone without auction followed by approval of the Cabinet,” said Hakim.
Hakim reiterated that in recent times there have been eviction drives and even arrests for such land encroachment.