Last Friday (Sep 28) the Alipore civil court lifted the injunction on Metro Cash-n-Carry, the German retail giant, for resuming construction at the site on EM Bypass near Mukundapur.
The trouble started when Metro waded into 45-year old land-ownership litigation over the land it had leased. The court stayed further construction even as the site was nearly two-third ready to start operations.
For a speedy respite Metro did knock the doors of High Court and Supreme Court, but only to be returned to the lower court each time.
Now that the decks are finally cleared, Metro is expected to recommence constructions soon. Several items now lie scattered at the site waiting to be fitted at appropriate places for use. They have already suffered the heavy battering of rains for the last few months.
Despite the right causes for rejoice, Metro is cautious in its approach, and justifiably so. There is already a lot of dust stirred up by motivated protesters over Reliance’s entry into organized retail, and this has resulted into the latter’s summarily dismissing its 400 employees.
Metro’s response to the construction work having been stalled for so long was quite muted. It transferred its Kolkata employees to other places even as the court battle went on. They may now be brought back as the activity on EM Bypass center picks up.
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