[Reader-list] Reply to post of Ms. Monica Narula, issue 27
radhikarajen at vsnl.net
radhikarajen at vsnl.net
Thu Oct 18 15:17:56 IST 2007
Ms. Narula
your post about display of art and artefacts was quite intersting reading for me.
No doubt the boundaries on planet are man made, barriers that divide the humanity into nations and the faiths which divide humanity as followers of different faiths etc, are artificial if followed with greed to dominate the humans of any nation or if faith is imposed on non-followers it becomes fanatism of worst kind.
Arts and artcrafts of the humanity over the ages represent the culture and traditions of the human race over the years.Sharing the perspectives of this aspect is need of the hour, so that narrow trends of the artist, art and artefact are also seen by the humanity. At the same time, it also represents good facts of humanity, art is sublime when it does so.
Now regarding the exhibition of arts and artefacts at different places on planet earth, the issue has many other things to consider, for one safe passage and maintainance of these invaluable art and artefacts in the transits at different locations is one of them. Contracts doled out, inefficient packing and handling, destruction, malicious or otherwise deprives the future generations of this sublime factor of human life and existence.
Also there few artists who have their perspective of human life, divided by faith, some artists are not immune to prejudices which are latent human trends, to cite just one example, artist, M F HUssain is known for his hatred to hindu culture, even as poster painter he had fascination for female figures, but prejudiced view can be be detrimental to his art when he depicts a person in loin cloth and mughal emperor in fully clad royal apparels. So also his liberty is annoying to many others sentiments when he sees deities of another faith only in nude grandeur, but not his own parents whom he revers as in the similar nude position to bring him on this earth.But freedom of expression in art is not absolute, as the artist has to be aware of his responsibilty to humanity and he has no license to hurt others with his perspective of his art objects. ?
Such crass cravings for notoreity brings in the baser instincts of animals in humanity, not divine, sublime feelings of being humans belonging to the society with good culture and civic sense. ?Request is to ponder over these thoughts.
Any person if uses his creative intellect to demean another section of humanity for reasons such as caste, faith, creed it is not admirable in society, condemnable..
Regards,
Radhikarajen
----- Original Message -----
From: reader-list-request at sarai.net
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:02 am
Subject: reader-list Digest, Vol 51, Issue 27
To: reader-list at sarai.net
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. Fwd: Row Over Bangladesh Loan To Musee Guimet (Monica Narula)
> 2. Sindh Observes a Day for Land Reforms & Peasants Rights
> (Zulfiqar Shah)
> 3. Bikramgarh Jheel - Additional Information on Posting of Ms
> Ranu Ghosh (mrsg at vsnl.com)
> 4. Bikramgarh Jheel - Additional Information on Posting of Ms
> Ranu Ghosh (mrsg at vsnl.com)
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:07:02 +0530
> From: Monica Narula <monica at sarai.net>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Row Over Bangladesh Loan To Musee Guimet
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
> Message-ID: <83D55A37-6141-4588-88CF-94F03CD6C4E8 at sarai.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="WINDOWS-1252"; format=flowed
>
>
> Monica Narula
> Raqs
> Sarai-CSDS
> 29 Rajpur Road
> Delhi 110 054
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
> www.sarai.net
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>
> >
> > From <proshno07 at gmail.com>
> > Dancing the DGFI's Tune?
> >
> > The past few weeks have seen tempers run high in some part of the
> > artistic and heritage community over the supposed 'theft' of our
> > artefacts by a foreign government, their 'threatened destruction'
> > and the 'anti-state' activity constituted by their exhibition
> abroad.> Quieter voices within both communities have talked about the
> > importance of culture being part of a universal heritage, which
> cannot> be confined within geographical borders and boundaries but
> must be
> > shared across communities and countries. But our press has done
> little> to give space to these voices, reporting only the shrill
> and frankly
> > ignorant ('the Mona Lisa has not been shown outside France' says one
> > eminent former DG Archaeology – now involved in litigation to
> stop the
> > artefacts being taken abroad).
> >
> > All this is about the exhibition on 'Masterpieces of Bangladesh Art'
> > to be shown at the Musee Guimet in Paris from October 2007 to March
> > 2008. Or rather the exhibition that should have been shown.
> Right now
> > it is again a moot point whether the artefacts will ever reach Paris
> > at all, let alone be displayed.
> >
> > The first time the exhibition was delayed due to a so called 'public
> > interest litigation' raising questions about whether the agreements
> > entered into between the Government of France and the Government of
> > Bangladesh and various Bangladeshi national museums had been in
> > accordance with law. This petition included documents from files of
> > the National Security Intelligence. It would be interesting to know
> > how those involved in the case obtained these documents. As it
> > happened, these documents concerned inquiries pending against a
> > government official who it was claimed was involved in accompanying
> > the artefacts to France. In documents presented by the Government
> > before the Supreme Court (andgiven to the petitioners) it was clear
> > that this claim had no basis at all. The person named is not
> > accompanying the exhibits, nor was he doing so. When the petitioners
> > were asked by the Supreme Court to explain what evidence they
> had on
> > this point, their lawyer was unable to respond.
> >
> > The second attempt was a case filed before the District Court, again
> > by 'art lovers' including former DGs of Archaeology etc.
> > Interestingly, the case was filed (according to newspaper report)
> > against the French Ambassador and others. The Court issued a show
> > cause order, but did not stop the artefacts from going.
> >
> > At this point, with no more puppets to join the dance, the
> DGFI's fist
> > finally came out from beneath the glove. It directly
> intervened at
> > the airport to stop the artefacts from going on the ground that an
> > 'inquiry' is to be held. An inquiry into what? An inquiry which
> > effectively amounts to non-compliance with an order of the apex
> Court?>
> > The artists and other genuine arts lovers who raised questions
> > regarding this exhibition surely did so from the cleanest of
> motives.> They were not informed by the Government of many details
> of the
> > exhibition and being active members of civil society rightly
> felt that
> > there should have been greater public information and
> consultation on
> > the issue. Since Bangladesh has never had a major international
> > exhibition of ancient art, it was understandable also that few
> people> were familiar with the procedures and protocols, and were
> anxious> about the risks involved. Perhaps more information and
> clarification> would have resolved their doubts. But for the true
> believers, perhaps
> > even that would not have helped.
> >
> > But what deserves attention now is whether these artists know that
> > they are dancing to someone else's tune? Perhaps alarm bells should
> > have rung when a security consultant, the petitioner in the High
> Court> case, claimed publicly that sending 'our artefacts abroad
> is an
> > anti-State activity'? And when NSI documents appeared in the Writ
> > Petition? Or when at least two of the people involved with the writ
> > held frequent meetings with top DGFI Officers?
> >
> > You would think that those who are most disturbed by the current
> > situation, anxious to see a 'return to the rule of law and
> democracy'> where the 'powers that be' do not determine all
> results and outcomes,
> > would find this particular outcome chilling. But do they? Or
> have some
> > of them at least helped to bring this about?
> >
> > For now the DGFI action has interfered with the Supreme Court's
> order,> preventing the artefacts from going to France and the
> exhibition from
> > opening. Why are our intelligence so opposed to this exhibition and
> > why are they greater guardians of our cultural heritage than
> even the
> > apex Court? More importantly, why does this exhibition bother
> them so?
> > Is it because it will show a face of Bangladesh which is different
> > from that they wish to project – one that exemplifies a multiple,
> > plural diverse identity, constituted of different religions?
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:36:41 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Zulfiqar Shah <shahzulf at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Sindh Observes a Day for Land Reforms &
> Peasants Rights
> To: Help Asia <helpasia at yahoogroups.com>, Reader-List
> <reader-list at sarai.net>, Sindh Media <sindhmedia at yahoogroups.com>,
> Sindh org <sindhorg at yahoogroups.com>
> Message-ID: <662841.82017.qm at web38815.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Sindh Observes a Day for Land Reforms & Peasants Rights
>
> Hyderabad: Rallies, marches and protest demonstration were
> organized in about 15 district headquarter of Sindh on the call
> given to by South Asia Partnership-Pakistan - Sindh Office to
> observe Peasants Demand Day on October 16, 2007 to demand land
> reforms and peasant rights.
>
> In this regard, a rally and protest demo was observed in Hyderabad
> by Joint Action Committee [JAC]. The rally, led by Zain Daudpota,
> Zulfiqar Shah, Punhal Saryo, Fateh Marri incepted from old campus
> area marched and culminated into a protest demonstration at
> Hyderabad Press Club.
>
> A large rally was organized in Mirpurkhas by Naujawan Sangat. Mr.
> Ghulam Qadir of Pakistan Labor Party, Human right activists Rano
> Kanjimal and Wajid Leghari led the rally. In Matiari, Village
> Improvement and Social welfare Association held a protest
> demonstration out side Matryari press club. In Dadu, Young Samaji
> Tanzeem organized a rally which started from Harri Markaz and
> culminated into a procession in front of the press club. A rally
> and procession was organized by POWA in Khairpur Mirs. The rally
> was led by women activists Zarena Jalbani and Sughra Majeed. In
> Panu Aqil, Shah Latif Educational and Development Organization
> held a rally and protest demonstration that incepted from Eidgah
> Chowk and culminated at press club into a procession. In Larkana,
> a rally was organized by Ghazi Social Welfare Association attended
> by social and political activists, peasants and media persons.
> Hari leaders affiliated with different political parties led the
> march.
>
> Jago Development Society organized a rally in Badin. Mohammed Raza
> of Sindh Abadgar Forum and Ali Mohammed Rahoojo of Hari Tahreek
> were leading the rally. The rally was attended by lawyers, media
> persons and civil society activists. In Thatta, Village
> Development Organization organized a rally that marched various
> roads of the city and culminated into a procession at the press
> club. In Jacobabad Community Development Network Organization
> arranged a rally was participated by a large number of peasants,
> media person, NGO activists and Hari leaders. In Umarakot, a rally
> was organized by Sami Samaj Sujag Sangat. Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Khoso
> and Mir Hasin Areesar led the rally. In Shikarpur a rally was
> organized by Human Development Society. The rally started from
> Jahaz Chowk and culminated into a procession at Lakhidar. In
> Ghotki Village Development Organization hosted a rally which
> started from Dipel Chowk and culminated into the procession at
> Press Club. The
> protest demos were also organized in Sukkur and Nawabshah in
> front of the local Press Clubs.
>
> In the rallies, speakers demanded the legislation of a new
> peasants and agriculture workers law and carrying land reforms in
> Sindh. They also demanded political parties to include the agenda
> of land reforms and peasants rights into their election
> manifestoes.
>
> [This report is generated by synthesizing and précising the news
> published in daily Dawn, The Nation, Kawish, Ibrat, Koshis,
> Express, Khabren, Jurant and Awami Awaz of October 17, 2007]
> __________________________
> Zulfiqar Shah
> Provincial Coordinator
> South Asia Partnership Pakistan
> Sindh Office
> 50, Muslim Housing Society,
> Qasimabad, Hyderabad 71000
> Ph # +92 22 2650243 4
> Fax# +92 22 2650241
> Email: zulf at cyber.net.pk
> pcsindh at sappk.org
> URL: www.sappk.org
> ____________________________
>
> Send instant messages to your online friends
> http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:52:53 +0500
> From: mrsg at vsnl.com
> Subject: [Reader-list] Bikramgarh Jheel - Additional Information on
> Posting of Ms Ranu Ghosh
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
> Message-ID: <e4fef9e93cad.471710d5 at vsnl.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> Thanks to Ms Ranu Ghosh for introducing Bikramgarh Jheel and South
> City Project to this Readers’ list. The issue of Bikramgrarh Jheel
> has been brought to the notice of Kolkata citizens by sustained
> work of Vasundhara Foundation, a non-funded environmental
> activists’ and researchers’ group working for the last 5 years. It
> has organized community movement with local clubs like Udayan
> Sangha and other Clubs to save the Jheel and due to its initiative
> the Jheel has been taken over by Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
> The comparison of two lakes of Kolkata – Dhakuria Lake and
> Bikramgarh Jheel as described in Ms Ghosh’s posting is based on
> the article “ A tale of two lakes” by Mohit Ray in the
> “Statesman”, published in its Sunday Supplement on 19 December
> 2002. The information about South City, Jay Engineering works and
> Supreme Court judgments on these issues have been prepared from
> Mohit Ray’s article “Once there was a Jheel” in another the
> Statesman Sunday Supplement article on 20 A
> ugust 2006. These two articles were later reprinted in edited form
> in Annual Survey of Environment Kolkata 2003 and Annual Survey of
> Environment Kolkata 2006 published by Vasundhara Foundation.
> Vasundhara scientist Kaustuv Basu carried out a detailed
> ecological study of the waterbody. Two scientific papers have been
> published on these studies. (A Preliminary Account of the
> Biodiversity of Bikramgarh Jheel, Bionotes, Vol.6(3), Dec 2004;
> Restoration of a Dying Waterbody in Densely Populated Region: A
> Case Study of Bikramgarh Jheel, Proc of 4th National Seminar on
> Wetland Resources, Dept. of Zoology, S.U.College, Chalakudy,
> Kerala, February 2005).
>
> As for the latest development on this issue: Vasundhara’ s letter
> (01-01-2006) to the Governor, West Bengal with copies to different
> government organizations and West Bengal Pollution Control Board
> reopened the issue of encroachment of Bikramgarh Jheel.
> Vasundhara’s members have spent hours organizing mass protests at
> Bimkramgarh area several times with the help of local
> organizations. Due to this WBPCB was forced to reopen the issue,
> sent new investigation team, formed independent committees and all
> other activities started. When all the government committees
> submitted report in support of Vasundhara’s claims but nothing
> happened, Vasundhara went to the 3-member bench of Appellate
> Authority of WBPCB on 29 August 2006. However again spending many
> hours at the court of Appellate Authority, nothing came out.
>
> Ms Ranu Ghosh and her associate have met Dr. Mohit Ray twice where
> the copies of all these information and documents were handed
> over. You can also find more information in the Annual Survey of
> Environment Kolkata 2003 and Annual Survey of Environment Kolkata
> 2006 published by Vasundhara Foundation. (This annual survey of
> Kolkata is being published by Vasundhara from the year 2001) and
> also from its website www.vasundhara.cjb.net and you may write to
> Dr. Ray at mrsg at vsnl.com.
>
> Again thanks to Ms Ranu Ghosh for presenting the issue to new
> audience.
> Mohit Ray
> Vasundhara Foundation
>
>
>
>
> Hi readers
> sorry for the delay in 5th posting.
>
> *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 5:*
>
> * *
>
> *DEATH OF A LAKE*
>
> * *
>
> *South** City** flouts Supreme Court ruling:*
>
> In 1995, in the context of shifting of factory premises from the
> city of
> Delhi, The Supreme Court had given a ruling to protect the city
> from random
> urban development on the vacated land. According to this ruling,
> if the plot
> of land measures more than 5 hectares, 65% of the land has to be
> given to
> the Municipal Corporation for planting trees and developing
> gardens. Only
> 35% of the land may be used for construction. Joy Engineering
> Works has
> flouted this ruling and sold off the entire land to the South City
> project.The people living in the neigbourhood of the complex have been
> deprived of open
> spaces, playgrounds and gardens. Instead, they have got a concrete
> jungle,pollution and traffic jam.
>
>
>
> *Bikramgarh Jheel: a biosphere supporting rare species:*
>
> Perhaps the biggest loser in the whole game is the Bikramgarh
> Jheel – a huge
> water body, that partly fell inside the premises of the South City
> Project. The Bikramgarh Jheel, in its size, is next only to the
> two other huge water
> bodies that do our city proud – Dhakuria Lake and Subhash Sarovar.
> But this
> water body has never acquired the status or prestige conferred
> upon its
> other two cousins In appearance, it has never matched the idyllic
> image that
> the idea of a 'jheel' conjures up in our mind. Located in the densely
> populated Bikramgarh area, on its west side is the cluster of
> garages, on
> one side the tall towers of South City and all around it
> settlements of
> encroachers. The jheel itself is used as a dumping ground for wastes
> generated by these varied settlements. Yet, Kaustav Basu, a
> student of
> environment, has spotted 22 species of birds and 32 species of
> flora around
> this jheel – and several species of butterflies and grasshoppers.
> Among the
> species of birds, at least one, according to him, is an endangered
> speciesand among the plants, he has spotted a cluster of shrubs
> that are rapidly
> vanishing from the Kolkata landscape. In the good old Usha
> Factory days,
> when Joy Engineering Works had not sold off the property to South
> City,young boys used to spend their time catching fish in this
> jheel. They even
> remember seeing turtles in this biosphere. People's crass
> negligence and now
> the advancing grip of South City is slowly suffocating the Jheel and
> snuffing out the biodiversity it supports.
>
>
>
> I have interacted with the people in the dense settlement around
> the jheel
> and among them I have found active members of the major political
> parties of
> West Bengal. Their hutments on the edge of the jheel stand on firm
> ground,which in a way proves that the slow process of illegitimate
> filling of the
> water body has been going on for a long time and it serves the vested
> interest of so many people to get the jheel filled. Most of these
> encroachers have the tacit support of some political party or the
> other.
>
>
> *Flashback:*
>
> Years back, when the South City project had just been mooted,
> Saugata Roy,
> an MP from that locality, had said that perhaps a plan to save and
> rejuvenate the Bikramgarh Jheel would emerge from the South
> Citydevelopment. Today, in the face of recent 'developments=27, his
> comments sound
> like a harsh irony. As it so happened, 1.31 acres of the Jheel
> fell within
> the premises of the Usha Factory,which has been handed over to the
> SouthCity builders. Towards the end of December 2005, Vasundhara, an
> environmental activist group, spotted that the 1.31 acres of the
> water body
> has been filled by the builders and towers III and IV are being
> constructedover this filled space. Vasundhara got their facts
> together and wrote to the
> Governor, the Chief Minister, to the Fishery Deptt. And the Pollution
> Control Board. On January 24, 2006, Pollution Control Board summoned
> Vasundhara and South City for a hearing. South City declared at
> the hearing
> that they had got permission from the State Board to fill 1.31
> acres of the
> water body on the condition that they would recreate 1.41 acres of
> a new
> water body.
>
>
>
> The PCB constituted a committee headed by Shri P.N Roy. The other
> members of
> the committee were Ex Prof. All India Institute of Hygiene &
> Public Health,
> Prof. Manav Sengupta, Secretary, Faculty of Science & Technology,
> Univ. Of
> Calcutta and Shri Bishwajeet Mukherjee, Sr. Law Officer. This
> committeesurveyed the premises of the South City project and
> conducted the necessary
> enquiries. In May 2006 they submitted their report to the PCB.
>
>
>
> *Excerpts from the report:*
>
> *"After detailed scrutiny of the different information made
> available before
> theCcommittee, it is observed that before issue of Consent to
> Establish to
> Ms. South City project, no inspection was conducted by the State
> Board…… The
> committee surprisingly observed that before issuing permission for
> relocation of the water body in M/s South City project, no proper
> area was
> identified by the State Board officials, nor has taken any
> precautionarymeasure. …. Even the Deptt. Of Environment issued a
> direction upon the3
> State Board on 18.7.2005 under memo No: EN/10393/T-II-2/010/2004
> to allow
> the project proponent to fill up the water body."*
>
> * *
>
> Having made these observations, the Committee has recommended:
>
> *"The entire work of the M/S South City Project should be closed
> for the
> following reasons:*
>
> *i) **Construction work of Tower III & IV have
> encroachedthe water body and also have developed by filling up the
> water body.*
>
> ii) *Presently, M/S South City Project has
> failed to show
> any water body area of 1.31 acres for which M/s SCP obtained
> permission from
> the State Board to fill up.*
>
> iii) *M/S SCP failed to show any area where 1.41
> acres of
> land will be developed as water body as per their commitment
> against the
> filling up of the water body of 1.31 acres.*
>
> * *
>
> *2. Tower III & IV should be demolished and the water body of
> BikramgarhJheel should be restored and Kolkata Municipal
> Corporation should demarcate
> the area – not only the side of M/S SCP, but also other parts
> should be
> restored," * as has been done in the case of other water bodies in
> Kolkata.**
>
> * *
>
> *Present status:*
>
> Construction work of South City project is going on in full swing
> in blatant
> disregard to the recommendations of the Commission. The question
> is, with
> whose blessings are they breaking the law of the land?
>
>
>
> According to the eyewitness account of Shambhu Prasad Singh, all
> the rubble
> generated by the day's construction is collected at the edge of
> the Jheel.
> At the dead of night, when the whole city is asleep, the rubble is
> pushedinto the Jheel by bull dozers. The Jheel is gradually
> getting filled by the
> rubble from the South City Project. To demarcate its territory, South
> Cityhas put up a bamboo fencing across the water of the Jheel. Shambhu
> asserts
> that every time the rubble is dumped into the water, the fencing
> shifts by a
> couple of feet.
>
>
>
> I have been recording the progress of South City with my camera from
> outside. My visual documentation shows that the land behind the
> towers III
> and IV is now more than what it used to be. The trees that lined
> this part
> of the jheel are now gone. Instead the parking space extends to
> this spot
> and cars can pass smoothly. Very soon, all traces of the water
> body will be
> obliterated by encroachers from all classes – those who live in
> slums and
> those who live in towers.
> end of 5th posting
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:56:46 +0500
> From: mrsg at vsnl.com
> Subject: [Reader-list] Bikramgarh Jheel - Additional Information on
> Posting of Ms Ranu Ghosh
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
> Message-ID: <e7fea03e1901.471711be at vsnl.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> Thanks to Ms Ranu Ghosh for introducing Bikramgarh Jheel and South
> City Project to this Readers’ list. The issue of Bikramgrarh Jheel
> has been brought to the notice of Kolkata citizens by sustained
> work of Vasundhara Foundation, a non-funded environmental
> activists’ and researchers’ group working for the last 5 years. It
> has organized community movement with local clubs like Udayan
> Sangha and other Clubs to save the Jheel and due to its initiative
> the Jheel has been taken over by Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
> The comparison of two lakes of Kolkata – Dhakuria Lake and
> Bikramgarh Jheel as described in Ms Ghosh’s posting is based on
> the article “ A tale of two lakes” by Mohit Ray in the
> “Statesman”, published in its Sunday Supplement on 19 December
> 2002. The information about South City, Jay Engineering works and
> Supreme Court judgments on these issues have been prepared from
> Mohit Ray’s article “Once there was a Jheel” in another the
> Statesman Sunday Supplement article on 20 A
>
> ugust 2006. These two articles were later reprinted in edited form
> in Annual Survey of Environment Kolkata 2003 and Annual Survey of
> Environment Kolkata 2006 published by Vasundhara Foundation.
> Vasundhara scientist Kaustuv Basu carried out a detailed =
> ecological study of the waterbody. Two scientific papers have been
> published on these studies. (A Preliminary Account of the
> Biodiversity of Bikramgarh Jheel, Bionotes, Vol.6(3), Dec 2004;
> Restoration of a Dying Waterbody in Densely Populated Region: A
> Case Study of Bikramgarh Jheel, Proc of 4th National Seminar on
> Wetland Resources, Dept. of Zoology, S.U.College, Chalakudy,
> Kerala, February 2005).
>
> As for the latest development on this issue: Vasundhara’ s letter
> (01-01-2006) to the Governor, West Bengal with copies to different
> government organizations and West Bengal Pollution Control Board
> reopened the issue of encroachment of Bikramgarh Jheel.
> Vasundhara’s members have spent hours organizing mass protests at
> Bimkramgarh area several times with the help of local
> organizations. Due to this WBPCB was forced to reopen the issue,
> sent new investigation team, formed independent committees and all
> other activities started. When all the government committees
> submitted report in support of Vasundhara’s claims but nothing
> happened, Vasundhara went to the 3-member bench of Appellate
> Authority of WBPCB on 29 August 2006. However again spending many
> hours at the court of Appellate Authority, nothing came out.
>
> Ms Ranu Ghosh and her associate have met Dr. Mohit Ray twice where
> the copies of all these information and documents were handed
> over. You can also find more information in the Annual Survey of
> Environment Kolkata 2003 and Annual Survey of Environment Kolkata
> 2006 published by Vasundhara Foundation. (This annual survey of
> Kolkata is being published by Vasundhara from the year 2001) and
> also from its website www.vasundhara.cjb.net and you may write to
> Dr. Ray at mrsg at vsnl.com.
>
> Again thanks to Ms Ranu Ghosh for presenting the issue to new
> audience.
> Mohit Ray
> Vasundhara Foundation
>
>
>
>
> Hi readers
> sorry for the delay in 5th posting.
>
> *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 5:*
>
> * *
>
> *DEATH OF A LAKE*
>
> * *
>
> *South** City** flouts Supreme Court ruling:*
>
> In 1995, in the context of shifting of factory premises from the
> city of
> Delhi, The Supreme Court had given a ruling to protect the city
> from random
> urban development on the vacated land. According to this ruling,
> if the plot
> of land measures more than 5 hectares, 65% of the land has to be
> given to
> the Municipal Corporation for planting trees and developing
> gardens. Only
> 35% of the land may be used for construction. Joy Engineering
> Works has
> flouted this ruling and sold off the entire land to the South City
> project.The people living in the neigbourhood of the complex have been
> deprived of open
> spaces, playgrounds and gardens. Instead, they have got a concrete
> jungle,pollution and traffic jam.
>
>
>
> *Bikramgarh Jheel: a biosphere supporting rare species:*
>
> Perhaps the biggest loser in the whole game is the Bikramgarh
> Jheel – a huge
> water body, that partly fell inside the premises of the South City
> Project. The Bikramgarh Jheel, in its size, is next only to the
> two other huge water
> bodies that do our city proud – Dhakuria Lake and Subhash Sarovar.
> But this
> water body has never acquired the status or prestige conferred
> upon its
> other two cousins In appearance, it has never matched the idyllic
> image that
> the idea of a 'jheel' conjures up in our mind. Located in the densely
> populated Bikramgarh area, on its west side is the cluster of
> garages, on
> one side the tall towers of South City and all around it
> settlements of
> encroachers. The jheel itself is used as a dumping ground for wastes
> generated by these varied settlements. Yet, Kaustav Basu, a
> student of
> environment, has spotted 22 species of birds and 32 species of
> flora around
> this jheel – and several species of butterflies and grasshoppers.
> Among the
> species of birds, at least one, according to him, is an endangered
> speciesand among the plants, he has spotted a cluster of shrubs
> that are rapidly
> vanishing from the Kolkata landscape. In the good old Usha
> Factory days,
> when Joy Engineering Works had not sold off the property to South
> City,young boys used to spend their time catching fish in this
> jheel. They even
> remember seeing turtles in this biosphere. People's crass
> negligence and now
> the advancing grip of South City is slowly suffocating the Jheel and
> snuffing out the biodiversity it supports.
>
>
>
> I have interacted with the people in the dense settlement around
> the jheel
> and among them I have found active members of the major political
> parties of
> West Bengal. Their hutments on the edge of the jheel stand on firm
> ground,which in a way proves that the slow process of illegitimate
> filling of the
> water body has been going on for a long time and it serves the vested
> interest of so many people to get the jheel filled. Most of these
> encroachers have the tacit support of some political party or the
> other.
>
>
> *Flashback:*
>
> Years back, when the South City project had just been mooted,
> Saugata Roy,
> an MP from that locality, had said that perhaps a plan to save and
> rejuvenate the Bikramgarh Jheel would emerge from the South
> Citydevelopment. Today, in the face of recent 'developments', his
> comments sound
> like a harsh irony. As it so happened, 1.31 acres of the Jheel
> fell within
> the premises of the Usha Factory,which has been handed over to the
> SouthCity builders. Towards the end of December 2005, Vasundhara, an
> environmental activist group, spotted that the 1.31 acres of the
> water body
> has been filled by the builders and towers III and IV are being
> constructedover this filled space. Vasundhara got their facts
> together and wrote to the
> Governor, the Chief Minister, to the Fishery Deptt. And the Pollution
> Control Board. On January 24, 2006, Pollution Control Board summoned
> Vasundhara and South City for a hearing. South City declared at
> the hearing
> that they had got permission from the State Board to fill 1.31
> acres of the
> water body on the condition that they would recreate 1.41 acres of
> a new
> water body.
>
>
>
> The PCB constituted a committee headed by Shri P.N Roy. The other
> members of
> the committee were Ex Prof. All India Institute of Hygiene &
> Public Health,
> Prof. Manav Sengupta, Secretary, Faculty of Science & Technology,
> Univ. Of
> Calcutta and Shri Bishwajeet Mukherjee, Sr. Law Officer. This
> committeesurveyed the premises of the South City project and
> conducted the necessary
> enquiries. In May 2006 they submitted their report to the PCB.
>
>
>
> *Excerpts from the report:*
>
> *"After detailed scrutiny of the different information made
> available before
> theCcommittee, it is observed that before issue of Consent to
> Establish to
> Ms. South Cityproject, no inspection was conducted by the State
> Board…… The
> committee surprisingly observed that before issuing permission for
> relocation of the water body in M/s South City project, no proper
> area was
> identified by the State Board officials, nor has taken any
> precautionarymeasure. …. Even the Deptt. Of Environment issued a
> direction upon the3
> State Board on 18.7.2005 under memo No: EN/10393/T-II-2/010/2004
> to allow
> the project proponent to fill up the water body."*
>
> * *
>
> Having made these observations, the Committee has recommended:
>
> *"The entire work of the M/S South City Project should be closed
> for the
> following reasons:*
>
> *i) **Construction work of Tower III & IV have
> encroachedthe water body and also have developed by filling up the
> water body.*
>
> ii) *Presently, M/S South City Project has
> failed to show
> any water body area of 1.31 acres for which M/s SCP obtained
> permission from
> the State Board to fill up.*
>
> iii) *M/S SCP failed to show any area where 1.41
> acres of
> land will be developed as water body as per their commitment
> against the
> filling up of the water body of 1.31 acres.*
>
> * *
>
> *2. Tower III & IV should be demolished and the water body of
> BikramgarhJheel should be restored and Kolkata Municipal
> Corporation should demarcate
> the area – not only the side of M/S SCP, but also other parts
> should be
> restored," * as has been done in the case of other water bodies in
> Kolkata.**
>
> * *
>
> *Present status:*
>
> Construction work of South City project is going on in full swing
> in blatant
> disregard to the recommendations of the Commission. The question
> is, with
> whose blessings are they breaking the law of the land?
>
>
>
> According to the eyewitness account of Shambhu Prasad Singh, all
> the rubble
> generated by the day's construction is collected at the edge of
> the Jheel.
> At the dead of night, when the whole city is asleep, the rubble is
> pushedinto the Jheel by bull dozers. The Jheel is gradually
> getting filled by the
> rubble from the South City Project. To demarcate its territory, South
> Cityhas put up a bamboo fencing across the water of the Jheel. Shambhu
> asserts
> that every time the rubble is dumped into the water, the fencing
> shifts by a
> couple of feet.
>
>
>
> I have been recording the progress of South City with my camera from
> outside. My visual documentation shows that the land behind the
> towers III
> and IV is now more than what it used to be. The trees that lined
> this part
> of the jheel are now gone. Instead the parking space extends to
> this spot
> and cars can pass smoothly. Very soon, all traces of the water
> body will be
> obliterated by encroachers from all classes – those who live in
> slums and
> those who live in towers.
> end of 5th posting
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