Mamata to set up panel to decongest, beautify Posta in Burrabazar; urges traders to do their bit

The state government will set up a committee to prepare a comprehensive plan for the development of Posta in Burrabazar, chief minister Mamata Banerjee  announced on Monday. She said this while inaugurating a Jagadhatri Puja function organised by Posta  traders on Monday evening.

The committee will include mayor Sovan Chatterjee, Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Khalil Ahmed, Commissioner of Police Rajeev Kumar, local MLA and 10 traders who will be selected by the local trading community. The committee will meet to prepare the master plan and submit a report within three months.

“You sit and discuss the issues and come up with a master plan to carry out comprehensive development of Burrabazar,” she said, adding “there should be proper parking places and amenities for the workers”. 

She said lorries are parked  in the narrow lanes and bylanes making it difficult for other vehicles and pedestrians to enter the area. “These problems need to be addressed and only a proper planning can accomplish this,”  she pointed out. “It is the place where you do business and so you need to put in efforts to beautify the area,” she said.

Referring to old and dilapidated buildings which have become a formidable threat in Burrabazar, she said  many of these structures have disputes between the owner and the tenants.  But this problem needs to be sorted out. The owners and the tenants should sit together and the state government would provide all possible help to them to build new buildings. 

“There are many old buildings which have not been repaired for several years. KMC has declared them dangerous and dilapidated and given notices to the owners. But despite that people continue to reside in them, risking their lives. The owners and the tenants should sit together to resolve the matter,” she maintained.

KMC has already offered a scheme which provides additional FAR to the owners if they agree to rehabilitate the tenants. The scheme has already evoked an enthusiastic response and plans to pull down old structures to make room for new ones have been submitted to KMC.