“The KMC has initiated the cleaning process only in the Kashiram market. No debris will be collected from Nandaram market in the next two weeks,” said Bibhas Guha, a fire department official.

This means that the shop owners of the Nandaram market have to remain near the debris for another month. The cleaning operation of the Kashiram market will take at least 15 days, according to fire department officials.

“The buildings department has decided that the Kashiram market first will be cleaned first. So we had no choice but to follow its orders,” added Guha.

The shop owners of Kashiram market have not received any permission to continue their business. But all the shops in the Nandaram market (till the fifth floor) have been open for the last seven days.

The devastating fire had gutted several shops in the twin markets. The fire and emergency departments struggled to bring the fire under control for six days. Finally, the fire was brought under control on January 17.

“We have asked the market association to construct a separate staircase. We have provided permission to the traders having shops in the first six floors of the Nandaram market to restart business. But they are yet to get permission for using the top seven floors,” said Guha.

The buildings department, however, cited several reasons for the delay in initiating cleaning operations.

“We needed time to bring the situation under control. A portion of the damaged building had to be broken down. We could not allow our officials to enter the Nandaram market,” said D G of the buildings department, Gora Chand Mondol.

He also said that the building would be pulled down. Incidentally, he has been promising this for the past 15 days.

The building department has been busy demolishing the Tarpaulinpatti area adjacent to the twin markets. Only one contractor has been appointed by the KMC to collect the debris from the area. The department has also not bothered to hire more people to remove the debris.