KOLKATA: Displaced Bagri Market traders have found refuge at the next-door Amartolla Lane market, but most of them are hoping it remains just a temporary shelter and not, in any way, an ominous indication of an uncertain future.Amartolla Lane market (popularly known as Lal Kothi) had suffered a fire accident on February 27 last year, eerily similar to the one at Bagri Market. Nineteen months later, it is yet to reopen for business.For the 957 shop-owners of Bagri Market, the only thing that can be worse than the fire that devoured goods worth Rs 200 crore in 82-anda-half hours last week is an endless wait for one of the city’s biggest commerce hubs to reopen.“We are ready to co-operate with the authorities by all means,” said Asutosh Singh, president of the Bagree Market Central Kolkata Traders’ Welfare Association.Bagri Market traders keep goods in front of Amartolla Lane marketPresident of Bagree Market Central Kolkata Traders’ Welfare Association Asutosh Singh said, “Even if the owners do not agree, we are ready to repair and rebuild the damaged portions of the building at our expense and even stick to all fire-safety stipulations. The KMC should just allow us to start the repairs and resume business at the earliest.”On Friday morning, hours after the last fireman left, cops sealed all gates and stopped shopowners from entering the building, even posting 24x7 surveillance outside the market. Only officials of KMC’s building and conservancy department have been allowed to enter to oversee the work on removing the rubble. Once the rubble is removed, demolition workers can pull down the unstable portions and allow KMC officials to run X- ray tests on the building to assess its stability. Only after this will a decision be taken on the fate of the market.“Before the traders are allowed to get in, the building owners need to get a fitness certificate, renew their trade licences and a get a no-objection certificate from the fire department,” said a senior KMC official.The traders fear these formalities may be time-consuming; they just hope Bagri Market does not share the fate of the building next door, which is still stuck in red tape. At Amartolla Lane, the fire had gutted a major portion of the building by the time firefighters could get the blaze under control in a little less than 48 hours. The threestoreyed building housed about 100 commercial establishments on the ground and first floors and the homes of seven families — of owners and their relatives — on the top floor.Spread over 40 cottahs, each of the three floors had around 12,000sq ft of space. Each floor was connected by three flights of wooden stairs, all of which had collapsed in the blaze.While the residential portion was partly damaged, the commercial establishments were almost entirely gutted. “I had a cosmetics shop at the building on the first floor and the fire damaged everything. With the shop gone, I had started a business of supplying stocks to traders at Bagri Market. Now, with Bagri Market being shut down, even that business has gone for a toss,” said Deepak Juthani.According to a section of traders, who have rented properties elsewhere to resume business, work on reconstruction of the building is stuck mostly because of a disagreement. A section of tenants want the old specifications of a 19ft-high roof back, which the KMC is not allowing.The owner of the building, however, said negotiations were on and the building’s reconstruction will start very soon.

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