[Reader-list] Changing Industrial Landscape in Kolkata-end posting

[ranu ghosh]

*The changing industrial landscape of Kolkata: documenting the
transformation of a half century old factory, Joy Engineering Works, into
Kolkata's South City Project, "Eastern India's largest mixed use real estate
development"*

*Posting 7:*

This is the end posting of my fellowship .It is time to say a few concluding
remarks, sum up my observations and express my gratitude to all those who
have helped me directly or indirectly. I cannot claim that my project will
bring earth shattering changes on the face of the city, but I do hope that
it has created an awareness among many people – specially the young
generation, that all is not well with the so called 'development' we are
witnessing all around us, that there is always more to what meets the eye
and that the time has come to start thinking about rehabilitating the huge
number of people whose lives have been upset by the 'development'. My life
has got irreversibly linked to the lives of some of these people – and my
concerns for them will not end with my project. I shall continue to laugh
and cry with them, their future will affect my future and I shall continue
to voice my protests in my own way. I do need all your help, co-operation
and interest in this ongoing 'resistance'.

*An overview of my observations:*

*Role of citizens: *Initially, the citizens in the neighbourhood of South
City had put up a lot of resistance. They had complained to the police
station about the noise and environmental pollution, they had voiced their
protest publicly and had even filed a case against South City. In the course
of two and a half years, they have become passive and resigned to the notion
that nothing is going to change. Some of the citizens who had given
leadership to the movement, have been taken ill and can no longer play an
active role. Many of them have been threatened by the political parties and
refuse to air their views. Some of them are determined to see only the
'positive' side of the development. They are looking forward to the shopping
malls and other facilities that are going to come up in the South City
premises. Many youngsters in the neighbourhood see this big project as an
employment opportunity and some other youngsters have been inducted by the
political parties as their 'agents'. All the political parties seem to have
a stake in the South City project and the lumpen 'agents' of these political
parties safeguard their interest through terror and bribery.  In a nutshell,
people have become self centered and are looking at only short term gains.

 *Role of NGOs and activist groups: *Several renowned environmental
activists had begun a crusade against the Bikramgarh Jheel. But they have
not been able to sustain their activism. Perhaps they have realized that the
interest of too many big players is linked with the Jheel. The players are
too powerful for the activists to negotiate or have a dialogue with. Perhaps
the activists have begun to believe that voicing protests about the Jheel
and its environment is not going to serve their interest in any way and give
them any mileage. NGOs whose work is linked to different aspects of urban
development, have told me on different occasions that South City does not
come under the purview of their work. It is not their project and so they
have steered clear of the engulfing monstrosity coming up on the face of the
city.

 *Role of media: *At one point of time, South City was headline news in the
English as well as Bengali newspapers. After cases were filed against the
project, reporting about South City stopped. Thus the controversies in
project have faded from public memory. My contention is that, the media
should have kept the issue alive by regularly giving reports about the
project at least in the pages devoted to local news. If the Rizwanur case
can merit headlines for more than a month,  why not South City?  Some
journalists are continuing to follow the story in all sincerity, but they
are never sure whether their stories will see the light of the day. The
electronic media has totally cold shouldered the project. They are the ones
who could have swayed public opinion.

 *Trade Union Leaders: *The only trade union active* *among the Usha Factory
workers is CITU and the leader of the union is Bimal Chatterjee. He is
widely perceived as a 'middle man'. I am told that he gets lump sum from
both South City and Jay Engineering Works for keeping the unrest of the
workers in check and he has to pass on much of this money to the Party
office. For the workers, he is the only Godfather who would safeguard their
interest. It was Bimal Chatterjee who urged the 14 workers who did not take
VRS to file a case. The case has no sign of being over. The workers are
facing an uncertain future. They are totally helpless and dependent on Bimal
Chatterjee. The lawyers are friends of Bimal Chatterjee and it is anybody's
guess what unofficial brief the he gives the lawyers. By prolonging the
case, the workers have been demoralized.

 Eventually when the workers will be totally demoralized, Chatterjee will
arrange to give them, say, 50,000/- or 100000/- per head  - a mere fraction
of the compensation they are fighting for. The defeated, demoralized workers
with an uncertain future will be forced to accept that amount.

 Both, the political parties, as well as the builders, need someone like
Bimal Chatterjee to do the fine balancing act.

  *Bikramgarh Jheel: *The Bikramgarh Jheel is on its last legs. In an urban
scenario, people's lives do not directly depend on a water body. A pond or a
lake is more of a luxury – a variety in the landscape.  So the common person
does not understand the environmental importance of a jheel. Indifference
stems from this lack of understanding. So the encroachers are happily
filling up the jheel to create some real estate.

 *South** City as the trendsetter: *Directly or indirectly, South City is
out to change the entire topography of South Calcutta. There will be
flyovers over Anwar Shah Road to facilitate the smooth passage of the
residents. There will be a fly over at the rear of the premise too. The
pillars supporting this fly over will be planted inside the Bikramgarh
Jheel. Houses will be pulled down to make room for the fly over. There is a
strong rumour that South City authorities bought the Bengal Lamp premise and
star the construction of another cluster of towers.

 *Court cases against South City:*

Cases have been filed against South City by Bhaskar Gupta – a citizen living
in the neighbourhood, by Javed Khan – an MLA, and by Shambhu Prasad Singh.*
* All the cases are pending in court. Justice delayed is justice denied. In
this prolonged battle for justice, people are drained of health, wealth and
hope. Sheer struggle for survival takes over and tending the court case
takes a back seat. Court cases die a natural death or eventually they settle
for an out of court settlement.

 *Is the future as rosy as it seems?*

The singularly strange thing about South City is that, in spite of all the
cases pending in court, the construction work did not stop. The towers are
nearing completion and the process of handing over the apartments will begin
soon. When the P.N. De committee commissioned by the Pollution Control Board
submitted their report that towers 3 and 4 have been built on the ground
after partly filling up the water body, the court ordered the towers to be
pulled down. Later, setting an unparalleled example, the court modified its
order and declared that South City may have to pull down the construction if
the verdict is eventually passed against them.

 The big question is, what are the chances of the verdict being eventually
passed against South City? We are told by reliable sources that the report
submitted by the Shri B.P. Gopalika, Director of Land Access & Survey, is
scathing and entirely unfavourable for South City. The following data is
mentioned in this report:

 *a) Land area found during survey:  30.23 acres*

*    Land area purchased:                  29.83 acres*

*   EXCESS LAND AREA:               0.40 acres*

* b) Water body area found during survey:  1.90 acres*

*    Water body area purchased:                  1.31 acres*

*   EXCESS WATER BODY AREA:         0.59 acres*

* TOTAL AREA FOUND IN EXCESS:   0.40 + 0.59 = 0.99 acres *

 The above data has been collected through satellite mapping and other
modern scientific methods. The data has been submitted to the court. Will
the court pass a verdict against South City on the basis of this report? If
it does, will the towers be pulled down?

 I have been told that soon the court will send inspectors to verify the
reports of the Land Use Dept. This inspection team may ask Shambhu to be a
witness to the developments. Who can be a better witness than Shambhu? But
South City is going full swing with the handing over formalities. Can they
afford Shambhu's damaging testimonial at this stage? Some officers of the
South City have already pleaded to Shambhu to keep quiet about the
illegitimate filling of the water body. Shambhu is perhaps the only witness
to this illegitimate process and his testimonial may sway the court's
verdict against South City.

 Shambhu is having a nagging suspicion that guards in plain clothes have
started keeping an eye on him. They hang around his quarter all the time and
follow him wherever he goes. Shambhu's quarter is an eyesore in the middle
of the swank new constructions. It has been cordoned off to hide it from
public gaze. Shambhu asks, how will the residents of the 35th floor be
spared the eyesore of their existence?

 *Shambhu's update:*

Shambhu was told by his lawyer that his case has been dismissed.  I met his
lawyer and asked him the reason for the dismissal. The lawyer said that
Shambhu did not turn up in court. He was not interested in continuing the
case. I told the lawyer that Shambhu could have been informed about the
hearing. He now has a mobile phone. Now an appeal has been forwarded to
reconsider Shambhu's case. He continues to live in the South City premises
without water or electricity and works as a bus conductor to earn his
livelihood.

 *An appeal: *

Shambhu is a lone fighter. The odds are all against him. There are few
people he can trust . Now, since he is the potential witness for the
inspection team, his life is at threat. It is an appeal to all of you to
extend some help to Shambhu Prasad Singh – financial support for his court
case, moral or otherwise.



*My plans:*

I am presently making a film on Shambhu and his admirable resistance. This
is my way of voicing a protest and make Shambhu's story known. Glimpses of
my film will be seen at the SARAI presentation in Delhi on 6th of December.
Your feedback and informed opinion is very valuable to me. I also need some
financial assistance to finish my film. If you know of any organization that
can support my project, do let me know.



I am also looking forward to continuing my work on Changing Industrial
Landscape and taking it to a more definitive conclusion. I would like to
observe the changing scenario for another six months , when people move into
South City, what is the impact on environment and the people.



*My last update: A significant turn of events:*

On 26.11.07, The Telegraph Metro carried a news item "Landfill tag on realty
sprawl: Survey accuses project on encroaching water body." Among other
things, the news story quotes the state environment secretary M.L. Meena,
"We have received the survey report and handed it over to Calcutta High
Court". The author of this article is Jayanta Basu. He has been following
the South City beat for quite some time. Jayanta told me that he had
submitted this article to The Telegraph quite some time back. Now he is
happy that the article is finally out. But from very day he is getting ph
calls from builders and the party leaders. Could there be any other 'game
plan' behind publishing this article now?



*In conclusion:*

It is unlikely that* *the South City towers will be pulled down. A lot of
money will change hands and the verdict will be swayed in their favour – or
the verdict will be suppressed permanently. Perhaps a fresh case against
South City can rejuvenate matters and renew the citizens' interest in the
issue.



It is evident that South City has the blessings of the ruling Party.
Otherwise they could not have progressed as far as they have. However, what
is interesting is, presently, the media and the intellectuals are up in arms
against the ruling party and the West Bengal Govt. Repeatedly, the Govt. is
being forced to go on the defensive – with the Nandigram issue, with Taslima
Nasreen and with Rizwanur Rahman. But in spite of the present 'anti govt.'
air around us, nobody is opening their mouth about the Govt's covert role in
covering up the crimes of South City. Why is nobody using this golden
opportunity to lash out at the ruling party, embarrass the WB Govt. and
bring the South City misdeeds in the open? That is the big question with
which I would like to end my postings.



*Acknowledgement:*

I thank the following organizations for providing resource material for my
study:

Vasundhara (Environmantal group)

Manthan (Journal)

Ek Din (Newspaper)

Calcutta Metropolitan development Authority

Dept of Urban Development, Govt. of West Bengal, India

Pollution Control Board, Govt. of West Bengal



I thank the following persons for patiently discussing the details of this
case and frankly sharing their experience:

Mohit Roy

Jayanta Basu

Sudev Biswas

Malini Bhattacharya

Mihir Bhattacharya

Bhaskar Gupta

Shambhu Prasad Singh

Chandravanu

Kaustav Basu

Bipul Gangopadhya

Shovan Dasgupta