Kolkata, West Bengal
It’s seven in the morning and Monju Mazumdar, who is in her 60s, and her son Bijoy Mazumdar, who is in his 30s, are busy at work setting up their snacks and tea shop on stationary boats at Patuli’s floating market. Before they shifted here, three years ago, they would be busy throughout the day serving customers from 6 am to 10 pm at the Baishnabghata-Patuli daily market, about 15 kilometres from West Bengal capital Kolkata. Now, they hope against hope for customers.
“People either have a singara [samosa], a beguni chop [eggplant fritters] or a piyaz pakoda [onion fritters], click selfies and leave. Sales are very low,” Monju told Gaon Connection.
For close to 30 years, the Mazumdars did brisk business at the Baishnabghata-Patuli daily market, the largest daily market in the area, now demolished to make way for a road expansion project. Migrant vendors from remote villages of the state called this market their home, and eked out a livelihood selling vegetables, fruits, fish and grocery.
In 2016, the winds of change blew. The government proposed to expand the 32-kilometre-long Eastern Metropolitan Bypass (EM Bypass) that connects North Kolkata’s Ultadanga to South Kolkata’s Baruipur Puratan Bazaar. The market stood in the way, and was demolished. Post consultation, more-than-200 vendors were shifted out.
The state urban development and municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim decided to set up a floating market in a nearby lake, a few hundred metres away from Baishnabghata-Patuli market, like the famous market in Pattaya, Thailand.
The vendors moved to the floating market, built at a cost of Rs 10 crore and inaugurated on January 24, 2018. But that move has been an end to their business. Rather than getting their regular customers, vendors are only greeted by selfie-clicking tourists.
Cyclone Amphan, which made a landfall in West Bengal last May, and the COVID-19 pandemic, has made matters worse as incomes have dipped to near-zero. Several vendors have gone back to their villages and don’t know when they would return.
“The government built this with good intentions and it was done with our consent, but no one assumed sales would fall. There’s everything in my shop, but there are no customers, only tourists. Why will they buy vegetables or grocery?” Morjina Sheikh, a vegetable vendor, asked Gaon Connection.
Clearly, an infrastructure project has displaced the urban poor, mostly migrant workers, who have lost their only source of income.
Patuli floating market
To set up the floating market at Patuli, a nearby lake, choked with garbage and sewage from adjoining housing complexes, was cleaned, and 114 boats tethered in a 2,000 square metre area. It was decided that each boat would have two vendors. They would not have to pay any rent, only electricity charges.
The new market had distinct sections for fruits, vegetables, fish, meat and grocery. It was designed in such a way that customers could walk on wooden pathways and explore the market. All this should have ideally resulted in a well-functioning market.
The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority also put in place an underground sewer network, besides two aerators to pump additional oxygen into the water so that aquatic organisms and aerobic bacteria thrive.
However, the business of migrant vendors failed to thrive in this floating market. They found that the crowds had thinned out. The customers were few; the tourists more in number. The lake, the boats and the ambience made it picture-perfect for selfies and photographs. Suddenly, the vendors saw their income plummet. The COVID-19 pandemic and cyclone Amphan only compounded their losses.
Relocation and loss of livelihoods
Vegetable vendor Morjina Sheikh procures vegetables from a trader to whom she already owes Rs 14,000. “Earlier, at Baishnabghata-Patuli market, I’d be able to save around five hundred rupees every day,” she said. Now, there is barely any earning.
Sheikh and the other vendors have been requesting authorities to open at least two footpaths along the bypass to provide ease of access to passers-by, especially office goers. They think that would help revive their business, which is suffering relocation pangs and the lingering effects of Cyclone Amphan and the ongoing pandemic.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most vendors went back to their villages and no one was around when the cyclone struck last May. Several boats at the floating market were damaged. The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority helped with renovation, set the boats on a platform and gave them a fibre coating to prevent direct contact with the water.
The renovated market resumed operation by mid-October last year, with 50 boats, and less than 100 vendors. The rest are reluctant to return. Many shifted to the footpaths or took up pulling pushcarts to sell their wares.
“We returned from our villages during Christmas. Amphan robbed us of everything. Now, we have resumed work, but our income has dipped,” said Monju, who ran her stall for 30 years at the earlier location.
In front of her shop is the boat of Biren Das, a vegetable seller originally from Murshidabad. Das, who is in his early 70s, has been living with his family of four in Patuli for more than 30 years. His income has taken a major hit since he came to the floating market — he used to sell vegetables worth Rs 2,500 every day. This would go up to Rs 5,000 on weekends in the earlier location, and he would make a tidy profit after paying the wholesaler for the raw material.
“Yesterday, I sold only twenty five rupees worth vegetables. What profit will I make? It is all very unpredictable,” a disappointed Das told Gaon Connection.
Vegetable sellers Tultul Ray and Nasima Begum share a boat. “Yesterday, I sold vegetables for ten rupees in the morning and eighty rupees in the afternoon. The people coming here are not buyers, they come here to take selfies, take photographs and spend time,” Begum told Gaon Connection.
Ray has joined the small group of vendors who make use of the three-hour break in the afternoon (from 1 pm to 4 pm) to ply vegetables on pushcarts and go from door-to-door. Begum waits wearily on their shared boat.
And so, the floating market, which seemed a novel idea, replaced a bustling daily market, only to leave vendors struggling to make a living. From getting buyers, we now get only tourists, they say.
From vegetables to puchka
Santanu Patra, a superintending engineer at Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, told Gaon Connection he is aware of the issues faced by the vendors. “Some were given a suggestion to move to selling puchka or ice-creams to woo the tourists who throng the market,” he added.
However, even this has not worked out well for many. “I used to sell vegetables and switched to selling puchka. Even now, I hardly make fifty or hundred rupees a day. How can my family of three survive on that?” Sarojini Ghosh, a differently-abled vendor in her 30s, asked Gaon Connection. Her old mother and son are dependent on Sarojini’s earnings.
Ashima Koyal, who is in her 50s, has been a puchka seller all her life. “The three years in this market has seen our incomes tumble. Earlier, I saved enough money to build a house for myself. I am hardly able to save any money now. The authorities keep saying that this market will become grand soon, but I doubt if I’ll live long enough to see that happen,” Koyal told Gaon Connection.
As most of these vendors are migrants to the city, survival is a big issue amidst a pandemic. Patra informed Gaon Connection that vendors from the floating market are expected to receive assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi, a central plan that ensures a soft loan of Rs 10,000 each to hawkers, post-lockdown. The process has already been initiated, and Monju said she and some others have already submitted their documents.
Until that comes in, though, the vendors await in apprehension amidst their floating shops that threaten to sink them financially.
