Govt Chews up Namkeen Major

Agarwal claims the absence of the licence never stood in the way because ‘‘I have been greasing the palms of party bosses and government officials all this while’’. Things changed after the fire at the Firpo Market, on Chowringhee, last month, speculates Agarwal. ‘‘Now 600 people stand to lose their jobs. That responsibility will be the government’s,’’ he warns.

Faced with charges of harassment, the state government has only hardened its stance. ‘‘They had been functioning since 1999 without a no-objection certificate from the fire department or even a trade licence from the municipality,’’ points out Pratim Chatterjee, minister of state for fire services. ‘‘If they want to quit the state, they are welcome (to do so). But if they stay here, they have to get all these certificates. They will also have to move out of the city because their unit’s fire-risk is very very high and I cannot allow the people living nearby to be constantly under threat.’’

It was Prabhu Shankar’s father, Rameswar Lal Agarwal, who came to Calcutta from Bikaner in 1958 and started the business at Burrabazaar in Central Kolkata with a capital of Rs 1,000. Haldiram was the nickname of Rameswar’s father Gangabishan, an expert in the art of bhujia-making. (Manoharlal Agarwal, son of Rameswar’s elder brother Moolchand, made the Haldiram brand a household name in North India; the two cousins are now fighting a legal battle over the trademark.)

Following the government decision, the fire brigade department has closed down the Kaikhali unit and also another manufacturing unit of Pratik Foods, owned by Prabhu Shanker’s brother Mahesh, at Chowringhee on the same ground.

Chatterjee admits they are acting — if belatedly — in the wake of the Firpo’s fire. ‘‘But one day or the other, one will have to take the initiative. Better late than never,’’ he says.

The company, however, believes it’s plain and simple harassment, pointing to the fact that several of its proposals have not been cleared by the industry department. ‘‘We had plans to set up new restaurants, new manufacturing units and even hospitals worth crores of rupees,’’ Pramod Sharma, manager, exports and new projects, told The Sunday Express. ‘‘We had identified a large plot of land near the Eastern By-pass for these projects. We wrote several letters seeking appointments with ministers and bureaucrats in this context, but nobody has responded so far.’’