Abdul Wahed Super Market, located on NS Road in Kushtia, has become a hazard for the hundreds of people who pass through it every day.
The two-storey building, constructed nearly five decades ago, is now extremely risky.
Its veranda has tilted to one side, plaster is peeling off from various places, and there are even allegations that the building sways when people move about.
As a result, shopkeepers and employees are doing business in a state of constant panic.
Established around 1976–77, the market currently houses about 50 shops, where around 150 people work.
Every day, the market remains busy with the movement of traders, employees, and customers.
However, traders say customer footfall has decreased compared to before, after word spread about the building’s risky condition.
A visit to the site reveals long-standing decay in various parts of the market building.
Plaster has peeled off from several areas of the roof and walls.
A section of the veranda of the two-storey building has tilted to one side.
Traders allege that the building often sways even while people are moving inside.
Traders say they are forced to open their shops despite knowing the risks, because closing the business would create uncertainty about their livelihoods.
Yet even sitting in their shops, they do not feel safe.
One of the traders, Sharif, had this to say: “I open my shop every day, but there is always a fear. Given the condition of the building, no one can say what might happen. If I don’t do business, my family won’t survive, yet I don’t feel safe sitting in the shop either. Seeing the condition of the building, customers also don’t want to come as before.”
According to local resident Rajan, “It is clear from the outside that the market building is risky. It has tilted to one side, and plaster is falling from various places. Such a building remaining in a place where so many people move about is a matter of concern.”
However, long-standing low rents have become a major obstacle to constructing a new building.
School sources said that based on rates fixed in 1976–77, most shops are still charged Tk400 to Tk500 per month in rent.
Although rents have been increased slightly at long intervals, no shop’s rent exceeds Tk500.
As a result, it is not possible for the school to rebuild such a large market with this income.
Sabana Yasmin, head teacher of Kushtia High School, told TIMES of Bangladesh that the risky condition of the market has been reported to the relevant authorities.
Shopkeepers mainly pay rent for the space, and rent has been collected at the long-standing rate.
It is not possible to rebuild the entire market with this income.
The matter has also been reported to the current Deputy Commissioner.
Deputy Commissioner of Kushtia and president of Kushtia High School Touhid Bin Hasan added, “I have seen the building. The building is very old. Its current condition will be examined by an engineer. If the engineer declares the building abandoned, then necessary measures will be taken afterwards.”
For now, traders continue to open their shops each morning, uncertain whether the roof above them will hold.
The market that has served Kushtia for nearly fifty years now stands as a death trap waiting to happen, and the people inside it can only hope that action comes before tragedy does.
