KMC mulls tagging trade licence with shop insurance of owners

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is considering a proposal to tag trade licence with shop insurance of the owners, mayor Sovan Chatterjee said on Friday.

A high-level meeting was held at KMC headquarters on Friday afternoon. It was attended by Commissioner of Police Rajeev Kumar, KMC Commissioner Khalil Ahmed, senior officials of Fire and Emergency Services department and representatives of the owners' association of Bagri market. Chatterjee said only 5% of the shop owners had their shops insured. "We are considering a proposal to tag trade licence with the shop insurance so that the people can get money if their shops are damaged in fire or any other accident," Chaterjee added.

He said Block A of Bagree market will not be opened following the reports of the experts from IIT Roorkee.

The KMC will remove the debris. Block A of the market has been badly affected following a devastating fire last month. Of more than 1,000 shops, around 200 shops had been damaged by the fire.

He said the representatives of the market committee have taken up the matter of providing security to the building and the KMC has decided to give him all cooperation. The KMC is waiting for the report of all the agencies on Bagree Market and then a decision whether the structure will be kept or pulled down would be taken.

Chatterjee said water has not been a problem and the fire fighters got plenty of water to douse the flames. "The fire fighters fought for 72 hours at a stretch to douse the flames and there was uninterrupted supply of water from the reservoir. Water was brought from neighbouring areas like Satyanarayan Park and Portuguese Church," he said adding "We are all working together to ensure that the shop owners can resume business at the earliest."