he flower market at Mullickghat
will be built without the proposed revolving eatery atop
a 100-ft high tower.
The mayoral council in its meeting last week approved the
construction proposal for a basement and a three-storeyed
building, which will house the market. The civic authorities
rejected the proposal for the revolving restaurant on the
top of a tower.
“The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority had
objected to the proposed tower on the grounds of height
restriction on the riverfront. At the city police’s
request, we have laid down the condition that the basement
can be used only for parking,” said mayoral council
member (building) Dipankar Dey.
The state government, too, has approved the project, subject
to clearance by Calcutta Port Trust, which is the custodian
of the riverbank.
ICCI Infra has been engaged as the construction consultant
for the project, to come up on a 4.8-bigha plot, said Sudhanshu
Sil, the local MP and the chairman of the Mullickghat Phoolbazar
Parichalan Samity.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is expected to flag
off the Rs 26-crore project in the last week of February,
added Sil. “I hope that Calcutta will finally find
a place among international flower auction centres.”
West Bengal is the third largest flower producer in India,
after Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, said state agri-horticulture
minister Mohanta Chatterjee. About 6,500 tonnes of flower
are produced in the state annually. However, Calcutta’s
share in the Rs 600-crore floriculture business in India,
is only Rs 30 crore.
The cost of building the flower market cum international
auction centre — the first in the state — will
be shared by the Centre’s agricultural product export
development agency, the state government and banks.
There will be facilities in the market to sort, grade and
package flowers. A cold store will help to preserve flowers
and a laboratory can be used to extract essential oils.
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