Jagannath Ghat fire likely to impact prices across India

The devastating fire at Jagannath Ghat flower market near the Howrah bridge, which broke out on Friday night, is likely to impact prices in the wholesale flower markets all over India.

Jagannath Ghat, the largest wholesale flower market in Asia, accounts for almost 50 per cent of the flowers supplied across the country . However, an unprecedented fire in the market has dampened the spirits of a buoyant market amidst a peak season for flowers on account Bengali New Year and Navratri

Out of the 245 stalls in the market, 126 have been reduced to ashes, amounting to major losses for some of the big flower suppliers.

All the eight air-conditioned shops in the market were destroyed and their total stocks would amount to Rs 50 lakh, claimed a local shop owner.

The average daily transaction in the market is estimated to be around Rs 2-3 crore.

"On an average each shop has a daily business of Rs 15,000 especially in the busy season," claimed Sibu Debnath, a shop owner. "The worst hit were the suppliers this time of the season, which happens to be one of the best earning months, after Diwali...a daily supply order of Rs 1 lakh is normal," said Biman Halder, a shop owner and ex-secretary of the market, who supplies flowers in the places like Nagpur, Raipur and Durg.

In addition to the flower traders, nearly 10,000 farmers visit the market daily. Almost half of them did not turn up after the fire, resulting in a scarcity of flowers, Halder added.

Delhi is one of the major consumers of flowers this time of the year due to the festive season.

Another shop owner, who did not wish to be named, said orders worth Rs 5 lakh for the Delhi market had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the mishap.

"We were suppose to load the consignment today, but it's all over for us," he said.

Halder also claimed that this fire would hit the market prices across the country.

When contacted Madhu Samanta, a Raipur-based flower stockist and wholesaler, who usually buys from the Jagannath Ghat market, said, the prices at the retail level would be impacted too.

"The supply would decline considerably as a result of the fire, and this would naturally fuel the prices," he admitted.

However, Sudhangshu Sil, MP and chairman of the market management committee said, the prices would not be affected as majority of the traders would resume their work as soon as the garbage is removed.

"We have made an arrangement with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to clear the garbage as soon as possible and once that is cleared the business would resume immediately," he said.

Seal was also found to be on the opposite pole with regard to the actual losses saying, "Utmost, the losses would amount to a Rs 4-5 lakh and it would be fully compensated."

Incidentally none of the stalls were insured as they were non- permanent wooden structure. This is the second major fire in the Burrabazar area since January after the 100-hour fire in the Nandaram Market, a stone's throw away from the flower market.