The civic house on Monday approved a proposal to award the contract for redeveloping the Park Circus market to Reliance Retail Ltd. and Reliance Engineers Associates Pvt. Ltd.

The proposal was passed by 64-34 votes after an hour-long debate. All Left Front members present in the House, including deputy mayor Kalyan Mukherjee (CPI), voted for the proposal.

Following protests from Trinamul Congress and Congress members, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya announced that Reliance would not be initially allowed to carry on retail trade in agricultural products from the revamped Park Circus market.

“Among the four bidders who had responded to the open tender, Reliance Retail Ltd. and Reliance Engineers Associates Pvt. Ltd. together quoted the highest price — Rs 30.33 crore,” said the mayor. “There is no law which can prevent handing over of the contract to the highest bidder,” he added.

Leader of the Opposition Javed Ahmed Khan produced a document claiming that the market and the land on which it stands have been Wakf properties since February 1908 and demanded that the civic body seek the Wakf Board’s consent before handing over the market to a private party.

The mayor dismissed the claim.