CALCUTTA-INDIA: Blaze hastens death of a 125-year-old landmark of Calcutta



Flower history on fire- Blaze hastens death of a 125-year-old landmark of Calcutta
A STAFF REPORTER

A shopowner (silhouette on right) watches the fire at Mullickghat on Friday night. The string of lights in the background is the Howrah Bridge illumination. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta
Calcutta, April 11: An unexplained fire destroyed the 125-year-old Mullickghat flower market on the Hooghly’s banks this evening, taking out a slice of the city’s history.
Around 240 of the 263 stalls at eastern India’s largest flower market were razed in the fire that broke out around 8.05pm and took three hours to douse. There were no casualties.
Stall-owner Rajdev Bhagat, 45, was shattered. “My father had bought the stall 60 years ago. It was our only source of sustenance. Everything has turned to ashes,” he said as several fellow traders wept nearby.
The wholesale market, which sprawls south along Strand Road from under the Howrah Bridge, was to be demolished and replaced by a new market building anyway. But the losses from the destroyed stocks “would run into crores”, local councillor Santosh Pathak said.
Calcutta’s main business district has now seen two disasters in three months — the flower market is less than a kilometre from Nandaram Market, the Burrabazar garment trading hub that burnt down on January 12.
When the Mullickghat fire broke out, some of the workers were cooking while a group of traders were visiting a nearby temple.
“We were praying at the temple when we heard shouts and saw people running. We came out and saw the market engulfed in flames. We have been destroyed. Had the fire tenders arrived faster, some of the shops could have been saved,” said Laxman Barni.
Some traders alleged sabotage but the claim was rubbished by local MP Sudhangshu Sil, who is also chairman of the Mullickghat Phoolbazar Parichalan Samity that runs the market.
“Some of the workers who sleep in the market were cooking dinner on gas stoves. The fire probably started from there. I don’t suspect foul play,” Sil said. “The affected traders will get compensation.”
“The fire started from the Hooghly (rear) side. The breeze helped the flames spread fast. Three gas cylinders also exploded. The air-conditioners (to preserve the flowers) were destroyed,” said a fireman from one of the 16 fire engines that fought the blaze.
Flowers from the market used to be exported to West Asia and Europe. Some 2,000 growers visited the stalls every day to sell, the number rising to 5,000 during festivals. But there were complaints that the building plan was outdated and unsuitable for business.
In February, the Calcutta Municipal Corporation cleared a plan for a three-storey building with a basement, complete with India’s first flower auction centre. The building is to house a sorting-grading and packaging unit, a cold storage unit, a laboratory to extract flower oils and a guesthouse.
A proposal for a revolving restaurant on top was scrapped because of the height restrictions on the riverfront. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was to flag off the Rs 26-crore project next month.
“All the 5,000 workers and flower growers will be rehabilitated at the new complex,” MP Sil said.
Bengal is India’s third-largest flower producer, after Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, growing 6,500 tonnes a year. Calcutta’s share in the country’s Rs 600-crore flower business, however, is only Rs 30 crore.

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