Documentary gives wake-up call to Kolkatans to help reduce carbon footprint
Kolkata, May 9: 'Do you want to commit suicide?' The powerful question is thrown at the Kolkatans in a thought-provoking documentary that sends out a strong message on how the city could be hard hit in about half a century as a result of rising water levels due to climate change.
The 33 minute bi-lingual documentary 'Kolkata 2070' - screened at the Bharat Chambers on Tuesday - revolves around the theme "The City is Sinking" and talks about the irresponsible behaviour of the people in a Ametropolis that ranks high among 40 Asian cities in terms of carbon emission.
Besides, land filling of water bodies, construction of high rise buildings, and random disposal of plastic waste in rivers are clogging the sewage system and creating a severe imbalance in the environment. The sea level rise has already submerged regions of Sunderbans - the world's largest mangrove forest - which has resulted in massive migration and loss of livelihood for the locals.
Directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay, and co-produced by the Centre for Contemporary Communication (CCC) in association with the German Consulate General in Kolkata, the documentary is a wake-up call for authorities to make collaborative efforts towards embracing clean energy and adopting novel technology that would leave lesser carbon footprint.
"When I came to the city eighteen months ago, I felt it's a great city but it has some issues. Huge buildings are being built where formerly was a stream or a park and the waterways are slightly polluted," German Deputy Consul General in Kolkata Jurgen Thomas Schrod told IANS.
"We are in the middle of the water crisis as the Ganges, and the Hooghly have a high grade of salination and all the water-treatment plants find it immensely difficult to cope with it," he said.
"I think it is about time to address these issues and problems and make people aware. We have already started with schools and tried to interact with students and step by step we are trying to interact with the politicians and the decision-makers."
Centre of Contemporary Communication Aexecutive director Mallika Jalan virtually echoed Schrod.
"I have been working on the issues of climate change in Kolkata since 2010 and my main concern has been that people the city are not engaging in these issues," lamented Jalan.
"Every individual living in the city has to think how much he or she can give and my motivation to make the film was to talk to the people about the environment and climate change," she added.
The script and the storyline are based on established scientific evidence and documents including World Bank reports on climate change for Kolkata.
The choice 2070 as the year in which the imaginary scene of inundation is shown to take place is based on predictions in these documents.
Veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee has anchored the documentary, with some narrations by singer-composer Kabir Suman.
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BJP writes to EC about 'non-deployment' of central forces to avert clash
Kolkata (PTI): The BJP on Sunday wrote to the Election Commission alleging that its workers were not given security and came under attack while travelling to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Brigade Parade Ground on March 14 and sought action over the alleged non-deployment of central forces by police.
In a letter to the poll panel, BJP leader Shishir Bajoria claimed that buses carrying party workers to the rally were targeted with bricks in the Girish Park area of north Kolkata, leaving several activists injured, some of whom were hospitalised.
Trouble broke out in the area when BJP activists objected to the putting up of flexes which read 'Boycott BJP', before the house of state minister Shashi Panja and tore down the flexes. Heavy brick batting followed as both sides regrouped along Central Avenue, and the window panes on the ground-floor room of Panja's residence were damaged in stone pelting.
The minister claimed she and several of her party members were injured in the brickbatting by rally-bound BJP supporters.
In the letter, the BJP alleged that despite a substantial deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) ahead of the elections, the forces were not present at the site of the disturbance to ensure the safety of its workers and leaders.
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Putting the onus on TMC for the violence, the letter said, "A large number of buses bringing BJP 'karyakartas' to attend the rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Brigade Parade Ground were subjected to large-scale brick-batting and violence, resulting in several BJP leaders sustaining injuries, many of whom had to be hospitalised."
Attaching purported photos and videos of the clash to back up their claims of TMC instigation, the letter said: "What was particularly of grave concern was that despite a big deployment of CAPF well before the polls, their complete absence at the spot during the disturbance, or in any part of the city of Kolkata."
"We would like to put on record that the presence of Kolkata Police at the spot of disturbance establishes the fact that they had an advance intelligence report of possible violence and yet kept the CAPF out," the BJP leader said in the letter to the CEC Gyanesh Kumar, and Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal.
"Given the seriousness of the incident and the injuries sustained by several of our karyakarta, it raises concerns among citizens regarding the effective deployment of CAPF for preventing violence, and ensuring a free and fair electoral environment," the letter said.
"We request your good office to kindly take the strongest possible action against those who were responsible for this non-deployment of CAPF, resulting in this incident and ensure that in future deployment is carried out in a manner that truly serves its intended purpose of area domination, confidence building, and timely intervention wherever law and order situations arises from now till the elections are over," the letter said.
The BJP also reminded the commission that a party delegation had earlier met the full bench of the poll body on March 9 and raised concerns that CAPF personnel were being deployed for route marches in peaceful areas and highways instead of in locations requiring voter confidence-building measures.
At least eight persons, including a police officer, were injured in brickbatting, which broke out half an hour before the arrival of the Prime Minister at the Brigade Rally. The clash continued for about an hour as both sides fought a pitched battle on the road and nearby by-lanes before reinforcements brought the situation under control.
