Kolkata: Canning Street went back to its original form with traders plunging into business in full swing on the first Sunday after last week's devastating fire at Bagree Market that led to loss of a few crore rupees.
With only a few a days left for the state's biggest festival, traders whose shops are situated close to the Bagree Market building, were found opening their shops as they don't want to incur any further loss. With normalcy restoring in the narrow lane of Canning Street connecting Rabindra Sarani with Brabourne Road, one will hardly realise that a major fire had broken out in a six-storeyed building in the area on last Sunday and the fight to douse the same continued for more than 70 hours.
Only two fire tenders were found parked in front of the closed Bagree Market and a portion of the road in front of the building is still cordoned off, with some policemen posted at the spot. People were found taking a look at the ill-fated building, while passing through the area. Some were even found clicking photographs.
Usually, most shops at Canning Street remain closed on Sundays and other adjacent roads remain deserted. But with Durga Puja round the corner, traders have opened their shops. There was good turnout in the area for marketing and the traders were also happy with a day of "good business" after a week.
Sabbir Hussain, a polythene table cloth seller, said: "Usually our shops remain closed on Sundays. I decided to open the shop today as Durga Puja is just after a few days. Moreover, there was no business for the past few days due to the incident of fire. It would take some time for the market to pick up its pace, but the turnout of buyers on Sunday is not bad."
It may be mentioned that a section of shops at Canning Street opened for the first time on Sunday after the fire, while the remaining will be opening from Monday onwards.
Karim Bhai, who was found busy dealing with a customer, said: "Its good to return to work in full swing. There is a huge stock of toy guns in our shop and they sell mainly during the festive season in the state. So it is good that the at least the situation has become favourable to open the shops."