Siliguri: Traders who have been conducting business in Siliguri’s Bidhan Market for a long time have sent mass letters to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Firhad Hakim, the minister of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, Government of West Bengal seeking ownership of their stores.
On Friday, the Bidhan Market Traders Association collected letters from traders of the market.
“This market is one of the important markets in the city. However, control for this market has been repeatedly delegated to different departments of the state. As a result, we are concerned about our future. We want complete ownership of our shops. If our demand is not met, we will organise a larger protest in the future,” said Bapi Saha, the secretary of the Bidhan Market Traders Association.
Traders complained that when this market was built, the then-Chief Minister Bidhan Chandra Roy gave the traders space in this market. The responsibility of the market was thereafter transferred to the Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation department. This department gave patta to a few businessmen at the time.
Later, the current government gave responsibility of the market to Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) and the SJDA started providing licenses for running business in the market. But traders are facing multiple problems to avail the license due to land issues. There are about 5000 traders in the market, including temporary stalls. All the traders are demanding ownership of land to completely resolve the issue.