Riding rough tide

An art and music festival to be held close to the sundarbans has run into opposition from environmentalists.

When some enthusiastic college students from Kolkata decided to organise an art and music festival at Frasergunj in Bakkhali, one of the deltaic islands in South 24 Parganas close to the Sundarbans, they didn’t quite expect it to kick up such a storm. The initiative, ‘Ujaan’, which in Bengali means ‘going against the tide’, has lived up to its name.

The three-day festival, which was to bring together artists, musicians and activists, to raise funds for the Sundarbans, has instead invited criticism from a section of environmentalists like poet and threatre practitioner Arka Mukopadhyay. They have expressed concerns that the noise the festival would create will disturb the avian population and the waste generated will further threaten the fragile ecology of the Sundarbans. In an open letter, Mukopadhyay said the rock concert, which was part of the festival, would involve 20-odd bands.

The festival, which was to begin on March 10, has now been postponed but the organisers are determined to hold it at a later date at the same venue. They say the reason they have put off the event is because it falls in the middle of the secondary school examination which would affect participation. The exams, which were to end on March 7, are now on till March 23 because of a paper leak.

"When we proposed the festival on social networking sites, the response was overwhelming," says Nitish Arora of Smoke Inc, partner of the event. Facebook has over 5,000 ‘likes’ for Ujaan. "College students from all over the country registered for the workshop," says Sujata Seth, deputy chairman, Allsport, also an event partner. The festival was to have art exhibitions, music workshops, ‘akharas’ (meeting ground) of Baul and Faqiri singers, ‘jatra’ or village theatre, and clean-up drives.

"We had also tied up with a waste management company to remove all the plastic waste produced during the festival," Seth says. The organisers say they had been given a green signal by the authorities concerned, including environment clearance. The event’s poster claims that the festival is supported by World Wide Fund (WWF) and Greenpeace.

Upset with the controversy, Subir Dey, secretary, National Social Science Congress, an NGO, says, "Such an initiative from the youth is encouraging for the tourism industry of West Bengal." The organisers have now done away with passes (Rs 2,000 per person) and made entry free. "The cost of the event will now be borne by Allsport, which has spent Rs 10 lakh," adds Seth.

Bakkhali is a tourist spot with a 7-km long beach. The genesis of Ujaan lay in a recent trip which some college students took to Frasergunj. They felt the area had immense potential for tourism but lacked facilities.

But concerns for the cluster of islands close to the Sundarbans, one of the world’s largest mangroves, has interrupted the initiative.

It remains to be seen whether Ujaan will withstand the rough weather.