Subhechcha Ganguly 
Customers frequently sustain injuries when deteriorating wooden boards on the pathways collapse, according to Nilmoni Das, who owns a stall nearby.Every day at Kolkata’s floating market, 55-year-old Lakshmi Naskar opens her dimly lit rubbish and fake jewellery stall, hoping to attract clients. Years have passed with few sales, but she hasn’t given up.According to Naskar, the market opened in 2018 and became popular right away. “I used to sell goods for between ₹250 and ₹250 every day. Currently, it doesn’t even cross ₹50 every day, according to Naskar.
With its 112 decaying wooden boats, the market looks like a landfill. There used to be two fountains, but they have long since stopped working.There is a stall owned by Nilmoni Das, who remarked that when the deteriorating wooden boards on the paths collapse, customers frequently get harmed. He also mentioned the abundance of trash, mosquitoes, and water hyacinth in the market.In 2018, the Patuli market debuted, modelled after the one in Thailand. It is about to close, six years later. The market was created by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority at an approximate cost of ₹10 crore. After opening, the market became a significant draw for crowds.
Every boat had two compartments. At first, there were more than 200 store owners. There are now fewer than 45 left. The others have left. Sales have sharply decreased. First, cyclone Amphan [2020] caused significant damage. The epidemic then broke out. Hardly anyone visits here anymore,” Das remarked.Tarakeshwar Chakraborty, the chairman of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Borough XI, claimed that the market has turned into a garbage for the vendors. “They throw all the food scraps and decaying materials—vegetables, meat, fish, and other items—into the lake. The fish have mostly died and the fountains have choked. Appeals have been made repeatedly, but to no avail.
