Born and brought up in this industrial city, Durgapur still
charms me with its cosmopolitan mix, spread-out neighbourhoods, civic
infrastructure and the development possibilities it still holds. But if we look
at the last 10-15 years, the city has failed to develop in a sustainable
manner. Overnight our
playground at the centre of the city was stolen! For some crores of rupees, our football ground was
converted into a mall. The ‘compensatory playground’ built beside Srijoni
auditorium at City Centre is not open for all. The ambitious city today hosts the ruined hillock of Devi
Choudharani, dead Damodar (river) and shows of deforestation at large.
The only ‘work’ the ADDA and the municipal jokers did in the last couple of decades (I think I am justified to be pessimistic here) is to sell-off land for residential and commercial spaces. Irrespective of how much revenue the local administration raked in during the last two decades, condition of the Sub-Divisional Hospital, encroachments and road condition of the city barely improved, while the poison in the air continue to choke our lungs.
In fact, the one issue that was never addressed (wonder if it will ever) is the poison in the air the city has been carrying for the last five decades. Air pollution is killing the residents here! To kill someone, a community or an entire population, slowly over a period of time, is as much terrible a crime as killing someone instantly. Do we have a regional office of West Bengal Pollution Control Board in Durgapur? Even there is one, it’s a joke anyway.
What I fail to understand is, why the educated and ‘enlightened’ people of the city are so reluctant to address the issue of air
pollution. Why did the tax payers never questioned the logic of setting up sponge-iron factories
right on the outskirts of the city? I fail to understand what is stopping the local media to raise this long-standing concern of the city — air-pollution. Sheer event-reporting is
not journalism enough.
Can someone tell me if people at the helm of affairs in the ADDA and Municipal Corporation are also residents of Durgapur? If they are, they must also be inhaling the same industrial poison. Doesn’t this ring a bell in their minds too? Some of these may be a part of ‘Maharatna’ companies and mega industrial conglomerates. But nothing can take away the people’s right to live a healthy life. If Bokaro Steel Plant and Bhilai Steel Plant (also SAIL units) can have in place pollution control system (electrostatic precipitators or electrostatic air cleaners), why can’t Durgapur Steel Plant? Things do not change for good automatically; it’s the people who herald changes.
The local political class here (red, saffron or green), like their country-wide brethren, is great at lofty speeches and race for power and position. They have better things in life and in their political career to do than taking up an issue that is ‘invisible’ and ‘not immediately affecting’ the lives of their vote banks. Let’s accept, we can’t really trust our elected representatives in such issues.
So long the people of this city remain self-centred (in my word, selfish!), Durgapur and its population will continue to be at the receiving end of bureaucratic greed, political hypocrisy and industrial poison. The worst part: Bhopal gas tragedy attracted global attention because it wiped out the population of a city overnight, but no one will know about Durgapur. Because the people here chose to die a slow and silent death.
The only ‘work’ the ADDA and the municipal jokers did in the last couple of decades (I think I am justified to be pessimistic here) is to sell-off land for residential and commercial spaces. Irrespective of how much revenue the local administration raked in during the last two decades, condition of the Sub-Divisional Hospital, encroachments and road condition of the city barely improved, while the poison in the air continue to choke our lungs.
In fact, the one issue that was never addressed (wonder if it will ever) is the poison in the air the city has been carrying for the last five decades. Air pollution is killing the residents here! To kill someone, a community or an entire population, slowly over a period of time, is as much terrible a crime as killing someone instantly. Do we have a regional office of West Bengal Pollution Control Board in Durgapur? Even there is one, it’s a joke anyway.
Can someone tell me if people at the helm of affairs in the ADDA and Municipal Corporation are also residents of Durgapur? If they are, they must also be inhaling the same industrial poison. Doesn’t this ring a bell in their minds too? Some of these may be a part of ‘Maharatna’ companies and mega industrial conglomerates. But nothing can take away the people’s right to live a healthy life. If Bokaro Steel Plant and Bhilai Steel Plant (also SAIL units) can have in place pollution control system (electrostatic precipitators or electrostatic air cleaners), why can’t Durgapur Steel Plant? Things do not change for good automatically; it’s the people who herald changes.
The local political class here (red, saffron or green), like their country-wide brethren, is great at lofty speeches and race for power and position. They have better things in life and in their political career to do than taking up an issue that is ‘invisible’ and ‘not immediately affecting’ the lives of their vote banks. Let’s accept, we can’t really trust our elected representatives in such issues.
So long the people of this city remain self-centred (in my word, selfish!), Durgapur and its population will continue to be at the receiving end of bureaucratic greed, political hypocrisy and industrial poison. The worst part: Bhopal gas tragedy attracted global attention because it wiped out the population of a city overnight, but no one will know about Durgapur. Because the people here chose to die a slow and silent death.
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