About 7K lives in search of silver lining as pall of gloom spreads in Kasba
Kolkata: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...” Even as these lines by Charles Dickens were written in a different context in his ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ they uncannily fit the present situation where following the fire at Kasba’s Acropolis Mall, about 7,000 lives attached to it now hang on tenterhooks.
According to the Mall authorities, it houses about 99 offices of several esteemed Indian and multinational companies employing over 5,000 individuals which are unable to operate due to the recent fire incident. This is in addition to the eateries, restaurant chains, small-time hawkers, tea sellers and stationery shops that thrived after the mall opened in 2015 and who are learnt to have now witnessed a major slump in their businesses this weekend following the fire incident.
According to the mall’s management, the fire disrupted business operations and affected the nearby markets and eateries, causing a significant drop in footfall. The 21-storied Acropolis Mall was developed along with Gitanjali Stadium and opened its doors for the public on September 25, 2015. Prior to this, the Kasba area in south Kolkata used to be a “sleepy hollow” with barely any significant commercial activity or buzz.
According to few locals, the advent of the mall breathed life into the area, transforming it into a vibrant urban centre. Hundreds of eateries shops have since opened up doing brisk businesses. What further turned it into a business hub are the many corporate companies that started functioning not only from Acropolis but also from the surrounding buildings that developed since then. Several private schools had also mushroomed in the area and the Acropolis Mall had become a popular hangout zone for more than 10,000 children and their parents.
Additionally, the increased connectivity with metro and other modes of transport connected Acropolis Mall to the E M Bypass, the lifeline of Kolkata. This enabled people from suburbs like Garia, Sonarpur, Santoshpur to visit this hub easily. However, the fire at the mall on June 14 brought in a paradigm shift leading to a complete wash out of business of a long weekend, that is Sunday and the Monday (Eid Al Adha holiday), causing huge loss to the outlets in this area. The area now wears a somewhat deserted look in the evening while the traders wait for a silver lining in this cloud of despair.
The mall authorities claimed they have complied with all directions by the Fire department and shared that the Directorate of Electricity, GoWB, has granted it a fitness certificate following an inspection by experts of the mall’s electrical system.
Now, they have appealed to the Fire department to allow the member companies to reopen the office section and restore electricity in the building so that the mall management can check the fire safety alarms and ensure a safe working environment.
