Russell back to full glory in 15 days

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The 85-year-old Russell Market will return to its former glory and function as before in another fortnight. Partially destroyed by a massive fire, the market has been given a facelift at a cost of Rs1.75 crore, all of it paid for by the merchants themselves.

General secretary of the Russell Market Traders’ Association, Mohammad Idrees Choudhury, said that reputed engineers have worked on the renovation of the market, which has been done entirely without any aid or support from the government.

The fire that ravaged the market on February 25, affected nearly 200 traders. With their income already badly affected, the traders were completely shattered when the BBMP commissioner M. K. Shankarlinge Gowda said that the market would be razed and a two-storey commercial building would be built in its place.

After obtaining a stability report from Civil Aid Techno Clinic Pvt. Ltd. which stated that the structure was unfit for carrying out any business activities, Mr Gowda issued a notice to the traders to evict the market.

Realising that they would have to save themselves since the BBMP was clearly not interested in doing so, the traders pooled in their own money and restored the market almost to its original state.

Mr Choudhury said parts of the market built of wood have been replaced with steel and metal to prevent any recurrence of the fire. The construction work was monitored by one of the members of the association, Mohammad Pervez.

Renovating the first floor cost Rs 39.5 lakh. Once the painting and final touches are given, the builder will provide the stability certificate too, said Mr Choudhury.

Local MLA Roshan Baig is helping with getting the electricity restarted. Currently the traders are using generators, but Mr Baig has promised to restore electricity before the beginning of Ramzan, when a lot of business is done in the market.

The traders say the BBMP authorities are still threatening to pull down the market to build a commercial complex. But the traders have shown how unnecessary this is since the structure itself seems to be stable.

The renovation will allow more than 200 traders to earn a livelihood. Shortly, 15 godowns on the first floor will be ready, which will help wholesale merchants to stock their products in bulk.