The CMC is coming up with a market-cum-housing complex within the locality that residents complain will create an enormous traffic flow into the area and spoil its tranquillity. There are plans to move the green bench of the Calcutta High Court soon.

A senior resident of the area said, "CMC is planning to sell 2,00,000 square feet of space as office, shops and residential flats. This will lead to around 10,000 people visiting the market complex daily. With residential areas all around it, this will be a nightmare for Jodhpur Park."

The construction is on and the cash-strapped CMC is hoping that the proceeds of the sales of market space will help it to balance its budget.

Senior members of the Jodhpur Park Society, a cooperative body that manages the area,also maintain that the market is coming up on land belonging to the society. They have even alleged that the CMC has illegally taken possession of the land to build the market.

The society, an association of government servants of the state and the centre was formed 50 years back and was allotted the land for building their houses.

The land was earlier used by the Jodhpur Park Golf Club. Five hundred members were allotted land. Two plots of lands were reserved--one for a health centre and another for a market.

The society handed over the drainage, sewerage and lighting related infrastructure to the CMC in 1965. It was also decided that a market would be built by the Society and then handed over to the CMC for its maintenance by 1975. The CMC also passed a similar resolution.

However, the society was not able to develop the market. Looking for space to rehabilitate hawkers evicted in 1996 from the pavements all over the city, CMC took possession of this land (around five bighas) in 1997.Construction ison for a four-block market complex with the first two blocks having six storeys and the next two, four storeys. Construction has been completed up to the first storey.

CMC's mayor-in-council (conservancy) Kanti Ganguly said, "The land of the society is itself leasehold land and they have no reason to complain. We have an agreement with the managing committee of the society and will provide the society with 6,000 square feet of space in the market."A senior member of the society said, "The earlier managing committee had only signed a memorandum of understanding with the CMC-it was not an agreement." Since then, the members of the earlier committee have been voted out in elections held in May 1999.

The members maintain CMC's market does not conform to the original master plan for the area.

Vice chairman of the committee B R Dasgupta said, "The MoU never came up before our general body for ratification. We are at present not inclined to stop the construction of the market--but we do not want such a hugecommercial complex either."

Ganguly says, "We will keep this in mind and beautify the area. We will discuss with the new committee (ways) to ensure that the area is not spoilt and to avoid environmental problems."

The spectre of a long-drawn-out court battle looms large over the residents of Jodhpur Park with the CMC not in a mood to budge from its plans at this late stage.