A picket by employees outside CitiMart, which opened on Thursday. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

At a time when chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been wooing retail giants, a city retailer, unable to open his stores for three months because of labour trouble, has complained of lack of protection.

CitiMart, the readymade apparel store in the Lighthouse cinema building, has been closed since May 24 following a management-staff stand-off. The outlet opened on Thursday following a high court order barring picketing, but trouble still brews. Metro takes stock:

Courtspeak: The high court order passed on August 29, 2007, by Justice Soumitra Pal said CitiMart, at Lighthouse building, should be opened at once and requested the New Market police station officer-in-charge (OC) to ensure that “no obstruction occurs”. Copies were marked to the deputy commissioner (central) and the commissioner of police.

Ownerspeak: “Today, I have the second-largest retail format in Calcutta after Big Bazaar, with 90,000 sq ft of sales area, and the government doesn’t give me any protection. I have been held to ransom by some hooligans, who won’t let any customer enter the store, blatantly violating court orders. They are heckling anybody who dares to enter the store. The New Market OC pleads helplessness, saying ‘I’ll be transferred to the dog squad if I evict them forcibly’. Where do I go for justice now?” – John Mantosh.

Unionspeak: “The management retrenched 98 permanent employees and wants them back only as contractual staff. John Mantosh can’t do this without any proper closure notice. We haven’t used force or abusive language against any customer. He has to give the retrenched staff proper benefits and adequate compensation.” — Prabhakar Mandal, leader of the Citu-affiliated staff union.