India’s first ‘floating market’ set to open its gates for public in Kolkata this month

India’s first floating market will open in Kolkata this month. The City of Joy is set to create history by adding this market on its water front. With this, India will also become one of the players on this front.
Floating markets have been in existence since the time water transportation used to play a major role in regular life and the floating market in Bangkok is one such example. Reportedly, the floating market in Kolkata has also been designed along the lines of Bangkok’s floating market.

A water body in Patuli area is undergoing transformation for this purpose, which has been developed into the floating market by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) in collaboration with the municipal corporation. As per reports, around 10 crore INR has been spent to develop this water body into a market.

There will be no entry fee, and the market area will be 500 m long and 60 m wide. The market will initially house over 200 shops.
The floating market will be further divided into four sections—fish, meat, vegetable, and grocery. There will be walkways on the water body, which will help people reach these sections easily. Also, there will be boats on each of these walkways which will be selling goods.

This initiative has been taken with the aim of rehabilitating sellers who were displaced due to the widening of the EM Bypass. So now their businesses at the Baisnabghata-Patuli market on the EM Bypass will shift to the floating market.

Local Councillor Arup Bhattacharya, who initiated this project along with Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim, and Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, told the press that just like Victoria Memorial and Howrah Bridge, this floating market also has the potential to become a popular tourist attraction.