Kolkata’s only floating market on brink of closure

Nilmoni Das, who runs a stall there, said customers often get hurt when rotting wooden planks on the pathways break

Lakshmi Naskar, 55, opens her dimly lit junk and imitation jewellery stall daily on a rotting wooden boat at Kolkata’s floating market expecting customers. There have not been much sales for years but she has not given up.

Parts of the market have become inaccessible. (HT PHOTO)

Naskar said the market was an instant hit when it opened in 2018. “I used to sell items worth ₹250 to ₹250 daily. Now it hardly crosses ₹50 and that too not daily,” Naskar said.

The market with 112 rotting wooden boats resembles a dumping ground. Two fountains installed there have long stopped functioning.

Nilmoni Das, who runs a stall there, said customers often get hurt when rotting wooden planks on the pathways break. He added the market is full of water hyacinth, garbage, and mosquitoes.

The market at Patuli was opened in 2018 on the lines of the one in Thailand. Six years later, it is on the verge of closure. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority developed the market at a cost of around ₹10 crore. The market become a major crowd-puller after its opening.

“Each boat had two stalls. There were over 200 shopkeepers initially. Now less than 45 remain. The rest have moved out. Sales have dropped drastically. First, it was cyclone Amphan, [2020] which inflicted heavy damage. Then the pandemic struck. Now hardly anyone comes here,” said Das.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation Borough XI chairman Tarakeshwar Chakraborty said the market has become a dumping yard for the stall owners. “They dump all the leftovers and rotting items including vegetables, meat, fish, and other food items in the water. The fountains have choked and the fish have mostly died. Repeated appeals have fallen on deaf ears.”

Officials said that the boats and wooden pathways were repaired after the market suffered damage during cyclone Amphan. “The idea was the stall owners would form a cooperative society and run it on their own. But they never showed any interest. In 2021, we replaced 65 boats and repaired many others along with the pathways at a cost of around ₹2 crore. But it needs constant maintenance,” said an official.

Parts of the market have become inaccessible as the boats and wooden pathways are either broken or hanging precariously.

Chakraborty said discussions were going on about whether the market should be revived and given a facelift so that it becomes a crowd-puller. “Plans are afoot for a two-story building with a rooftop restaurant. Boating would be introduced and the banks would be lit up with fancy lights and gardens.”