Various business owners in Ba wasted no time in clean­ing the mud and silt from the inside of their establishments yesterday.

Deoji Ba branch manager Pranil Prasad said a group of people had to be hired to assist with the clean­ing of their shop and removing soaked shoe boxes.

“We started cleaning up at around 9 or 9.30am this morning; there was lots of mud and silt in­side and the water was above the knee and it was coming from the back and front of the store. We put the shoes on top on Saturday in the day time,” he said.

“I can’t confirm right now if the shoes were damaged, we will have to do a stock take so that we can find out how many goods have been damaged. We have only one staff here and the rest we have hired be­cause our other staff are stuck at their place and cannot come.”

Vinod Patel Ba branch staff Deepak Prasad said staff had also moved most of the items at the up­per level of their store before flood waters entered the store from be­hind the building.

“We came on Sunday and there was seven people here so we had to move everything, but the water was just one and a half feet deep,” he said.

Ba Chamber of Commerce and In­dustry Secretary, Anil Amin, said that he was adamant that business in Ba would bounce back from the impact and costs incurred upon their businesses from the flood.

He said once the water level re­cedes, an assessment would be made. The Ba Town Council, in a statement has informed their Mar­ket Vendors, that the rainy season was around and it was advisable to reduce their stock in the market stalls.

“Please also take note that should there be flooding, the Ba market will not be open to anyone until the market is fully cleaned,” a state­ment read

Questions sent and phone calls made to the Ba Town Council chief executive officer Priya Singh remained unanswered by the time this edition went to press.

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