On a day when the world is observing World Heritage Day, the BBMP’s decision to pull down the heritage structure of Russell Market to make way for a two-storey building and parking lot has come as a shocker to Bengalureans.
And there may be reason to believe this is a well-crafted conspiracy to evict the traders and make way for new businesses to come up there. After a major fire ravaged the 85-year-old structure, the BBMP entrusted Civil Aid Techno Clinic Pvt. Ltd. with the task of giving a stability report on the building. The report has stated that the structure is not safe to carry out business, said BBMP commissioner M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda.
But traders smell a rat, alleging that it is a deliberate ploy by BBMP to shunt them out and hand the site over to builders. “How can Russell Market which withstood the fire, be razed down when it has been restored by reputed engineers and architects”, they question. The funds, Rs 1 crore, came from external affairs minister and Rajya Sabha member S.M. Krishna’s MPLAD funds.