A temporary market north of Manohar Das Tarag, which used to be the Kolkata Mounted Police Paddock and Riding School, has been set up to relocate the traders.

The traders will be brought back to the original site when the station is complete, railway officials have stated more than once. The station will have space for the market, they said.

But traders said they want a written assurance from the public works department (PWD), the custodian of the market which stands on land owned by the army.

The market has 528 traders. Sources said between 70 and 80 of them were willing to shift to the new location.

On Sunday, the representative of this lot, Narayan Saha, told Metro: "We are willing to shift to a new location. We were told that construction of the station would be completed by 2029. After that, we would be brought back to the old location. But we want that in writing from the PWD. We have no direct link with the army or railways."

He represented traders who earlier operated from the now-defunct L20 bus stand. They were rehabilitated into the market in 1998.

The demand mirrors what the majority of the traders want.

The traders also want their current possessions legitimised through tenancy rights.

The market was set up in the 1950s. Many of the shops have since changed hands several times. These changes were never updated in government records.

A section of the current traders are descendants of the original licensees. But
some traders are not related to the original licensees, said sources in the administration. The army considers the market "illegal".

A notice was pasted outside the market gates on Thursday evening. It was signed by an assistant engineer of the state public works department (PWD), who is also the estate officer of Dr BC Roy Market, the formal name for all things sports in the city.

"All the stall holders of the Dr BC Roy Market are hereby requested to shift their stalls to the temporary market constructed by RVNL at Mounted Police Paddock ground as per the same demarcated stall numbers of the existing market positively by 26th August 2026 so that construction of Esplanade Metro Station of Joka-Esplanade Metro corridor be taken up by RVNL," said the notice.

"After completion of Esplanade Metro station and permanent market over the station at the original location, stall holders will be reinstated to occupy their stalls by the concerned authority," the notice said.

A trader said just one line about the return is not enough. "The PWD secretary must give us written assurance that we will return to the original site once the construction is complete," he said.

PWD officials said they were not authorised to make a decision, and the army
has refused to formalise ownership.

"The assistant engineer is the authorised person to issue the order. Not every order is issued by the secretary. The traders must leave by the specified date. The last meetings were held in the presence of the police. The ministry of defence has taken an extremely lenient approach in the matter so that traders' interests are not harmed. The traders cannot expect the system to bend to their wishes. If they do not move out by the specified date, law will take its course," said an official of the state PWD.

A railway official said the demand was unfair.

"A meeting in 2024 decided that the traders would shift and then come back to the original site. They had agreed upon this very demand. The (traders) have access to the minutes of the meeting. They must understand that the PWD is not authorised to
give anything in writing. The land belongs to the defence ministry."

A section of traders met senior police officers at Lalbazar on Friday for discussions.