KOLKATA: Traders at 21 municipal markets in the city will have to pay 50% more from September following Kolkata Municipal Corporation market department's decision to charge a maintenance fee over the rent. The maintenance fee has been fixed at 50% of the rent.
This proposal came up for discussion at the mayor-in-council meeting on Thursday and was passed unanimously. The same will be placed at the KMC monthly meeting later this month. However, traders at New Market are up in arms against imposition of such a fee. A section felt that given the poor state of maintenance in civic markets, the demand for such a fee was totally unjustified.
According to Uday Sahoo, the general secretary of the S S Hogg Market Traders Association, they would need to sit together before taking a unanimous decision on this issue. "We have not been communicated about any decisions taken in the MiC about charging of maintenance fee from the traders, though we were called twice for two separate meetings at the KMC headquarters in the past two months on this issue. Charging a maintenance fee at a rate, which will be equal to 50% of our rent, is too high. Secondly, why should we pay for a service which is non-existent in our market," asked Sahoo.
Trader representatives of other markets point out that not only is the upkeep poor, most markets get flooded during monsoon.
The West Bengal Federation of Traders Organization secretary Tarak Nath Trivedi said that there was no clarity in the decision taken in the MIC about levying a maintenance fee on the traders without consulting with them about the exact rates.
However, the member, mayor-in-council overseeing the KMC market department, Amiruddin Bobby, said the matter was discussed with the traders from all municipal markets including New Market. "We have spared the traders from hiking the rent. But we need to collect maintenance fees for better upkeep of the major markets. The decision, taken unanimously, will be conveyed to them at the earliest," said the MMiC.
