Post- Plastic Cleaning Drive Statement of Accounts and List of New Donors

Post- Plastic Cleaning Drive Statement of Accounts and List of New Donors

In this post we will cover the following:

• List A- Names of donors and details of donation received from 10th June, 2020 to 20th June, 2020 
• List B- Break up of expenses during the plastic cleaning drive from 14th June to 16th June. 
• List C- A statement of total amount received since the inception of this initiative (26th May, 2020) and total amount spent so far (20th June, 2020). 
• List D- A hint of what we are up to next week. 

List A: Details of donation received during 10/6 to 20/6/2020

	Name of Donor	Date of deposit	Amount
56	Amrita+Alex and friends- Niyati, Koritha,Meredith,Lia, Nahir	10/6	29844/
57	Abhik Dutta	11/6	5000/
58	Ankan Bhattacharya	11/6	2000/
59	Madhura Bhattacharya	11/6	2500/
60	Debabrata/Anubrata Bhattacharya	13/6	5000/
61	Abhik Dutta	15/6	4000/
62	Santa Gupta	15/6	5000/
63	Suvarna Gupta	15/6	5000/
64	Julie Rak	16/6	2825/
65	N. R. Mitra (Aniket Mitra)	17/6	1000/
66	Dr. Rupak Bhattacharya	19/6	5000/
67	Sangita Mukherjee	19/6	5000/
68	Prabal Dasgupta	19/6	1500/
		Total	73,669/

List B: Expenses incurred for the first Plastic Cleaning Camp (14/6/2020 to 16/6/2020)

	Name of Item	Quantity	Rate/unit	Amount Paid in Rs.
1	Working gloves	90 pairs	80/	7200/
2	Mask	100 pcs	7/	700/
3	cap	100 pcs	4/	400/
4	Apron	50 pcs	60/	3000/
5	Shovel	4 pcs	225/	900/
6	Transport for volunteers-Kol-Hingalganj-Kol	2 Cars	@140/hour X54 hours X2	15120/
7	Local transport	2 Cars for 2 days	1000/	2000/
8	Plastic collection bags (BIG)	12 pcs	15/	180/
9	Plastic collection bags (Medium)	20 pcs	6/	120/
10	Honorariums to local sanitation crew	5 members	500/	2500/
11	Tea and snacks for volunteers en route, to & fro and at location			2000/
			Total	Rs. 34,120/

List C: Up-To-Date Statement of Accounts

Total amount of donations received ( 26/5/2020 to 20/6/2020)- INR 3,55,390/

Total amount of expenses incurred till 20/6/2020- INR 1,96,821/

Cash in Hand (20/6/2020)- INR 1,58,569/

List D: 

• We know that a single plastic cleaning drive will not solve the impending crisis in Hingalganj. We have a clear vision and commitment of develpoing a sustainble system all over Hingalganj. It is in relation to that commitment, we are going to initiate a campaign of 'Plastic Free Hingalganj'. We shall do that, one village at a time. An outline of that vision and plan of action will be posted here soon. 
• With the arrival of monsoon we want to gear up our volunteers with rain-ponchos and rubber-boots. With our avaibale fund we are able to buy the necessary items and distribute them accordingly.  
• We are scheduled to visit Hingalganj on 27-28 June, 2020 and carry out the second phase of plastic cleaning and take the 'Plastic Free Hingalganj' movement to the next step. 
• We will also bring back all the plastic waste that we have collected so far to a recycling unit in Kolkata on 28th June. 

A Post-Umpun Plastic Cleaning Drive in Hingalganj

A Plastic Cleaning Drive in Hingalganj- An initiative by Kanaknagar Shristidhar Institution

'We are in the same boat brother'. This photo represents the team's spirit and philosphy, both literally and metaphorically. Here you can see the team of volunteers returning from Rupmari after cleaning of the river bank and market area on 15th June, 2020.  

An appeal to the readers of this blog: Click on the images to enlarge. You can use the images for personal study. If you wish to re-publish any of the images from this blog we hope that you will give due credit to this website. 

Background

Right from the very night of 20th May, 2020, when the Super Cyclone Umpun ravaged and razed the southern aspects of West Bengal, a team of dedicated volunteers united spontaneously under the able and visionary leadership of  Sri Pulak Roy Chowdhury, Headmaster of Kanaknagar Shristidhar Institution. Since that night, for the next 25 days, this team of volunteers has been working relentlessly without taking a single day off. Their dream was to bring back normalcy and sustainability to the beautiful yet delicate Hingalganj.

They strictly followed a system of field survey that comprised collection and analysis of data and identification of  location-wise need. As a result, they could prepare a village to village list of the actual needy and their immediate requirements. Following this approach, by 14th June, 2020, the team had been able to reach out to 5300 people in distress and had catered them with not only essential humanitarian aids like, food, materials for basic survival, emergency medicine, but also addressed vital issues of local students and pregnant mothers. It was during this period, that some of us got involved with the volunteer army led by Pulak Babu and immediately (and gladly) became a part of the force. You can read about our first trip to Hingalganj here .

Inception

It was during the culmination phase of the relief and restoration works, that the team identified another impending danger lurking on the riverbanks and flooded fields of Hingalganj- 'Plastic'! The aftermath of Cyclone Umpun brought in an immediate and massive amount of humanitarian aid to Sundarban and Hingalganj areas. While this spontaneous and extremely generous gesture by the fellow citizens of urban and rural Bengal was heartwarming, all of sudden, a huge amount of additional plastic waste arrived at the scene as part of packaging material. Plastic bags have become a be-all and end-all for every customer. Oblivious to the after effects, one is easily swayed away by the benefits it offers, such as convenience, flexibility, lightness, durability, water-resistance etc. On one hand, plastic bags have made our life easier and on the other hand, it has led to serious environmental damage.

We realized this sudden dump of megatons of plastic was only going to aggravate the already existing threat to the extremely fragile estuarine morphodynamics of Sundarban-Hingalganj. We decided to launch a series of plastic cleaning drive before the onset of monsoon and agreed on the dates and target areas for the maiden venture. We chose two village centers for the inaugural phase of cleaning on the basis of survey and they were Rupmari Ghat/Bazar and Bankra. We decided to clean Rupmari on 15th and Bankra on 16th of June consecutively. We also realized that a bigger team of volunteers would be benificial for this particular mission. In accordance to that, we created a poster and an appeal inviting volunteers and was circulated through the circle of friends and personal contacts. Within a few days a team of 18 volunteers from Kolkata and suburbs could be formed. This band of 18 were joined by another 22 in Hingalganj and together we became a strong team of 40.

A couple of photos from the survey team that identified the immediate need for a cleaning initiative

Poster created for the Plastic Cleaning Drive

The Team

Pulak Roy Chowdhury, Himangshu Debnath, Prof. Maroona Murmu, Dr. Kallol Das, Bishnu Das, Prabir Mandal, Paltan Mandal, Biplab Mandal, Bikash Mandal, Suman Chakrabarty, Kunal Mandal, Jyotirmoy Mandal, Yasin Sardar, Safina Parvin, Mallika Mukherjee, Aniruddha Mandal, Revas Mandal, Tapas Deb, Nilay Chakrabarty, Swati Basu, Tapas Kangsabanik, Aloke Das, Ashish Chanda, Rivusoumya Das, Aniket Mitra, Pushpita Polley, Sangita Mukherjee, Ananda Mukherjee, Anindya Mukherjee, Subham Paul, Supratim Mukherjee, Pritam Das Sharma, Avijit Ghosh, Prasenjit Datta. This team was further fortified by the village cleaning crew Manotosh, Ashoke, Mahadeb, Dinesh and Mahitosh.  

The team poses for a group photo at the courtyard of  Kanaknagar SD Institution before they leave for Rupmari on the 15th June morning. 

Pre- Programme Instructions to Volunteers
The following set of instructions were circulated among all the volunteers before the programme began. This was written in Bengali and is given below as a model of common reference for future users.

ভলান্টিয়ার গাইডলাইন

প্লাস্টিকমুক্ত হিঙ্গলগঞ্জ অভিযানে যোগ দেওয়া সকল সক্রিয় সৈনিককে স্বাগত জানাই। কতগুলি সরল নির্দেশ আমরা সকলে এই দু-দিন মেনে চলব। প্রত্যেক সৈনিককে এই নির্দেশাবলীর প্রতিটি বিষয় পড়ার এবং যথাসম্ভব মেনে চলার অনুরোধ করা হচ্ছে।

নির্দেশাবলীঃ

১- ওয়ার্কিং গ্লাভস, প্রোটেক্টিভ অ্যাপ্রন, মাস্ক, গারবেজ কালেকশনের বস্তা এবং প্রোটেক্টিভ ক্যাপ আমাদের বেসক্যাম্পে থাকবে। দিনের কাজ শুরুর আগে প্রত্যেকের দ্বায়িত্ব নিজের জিনিষগুলি সংগ্রহ করা।

২- গ্লাভস এবং অ্যাপ্রন এই দুটিই ওয়াশেবল এবং একাধিকবার ব্যবহারযোগ্য। তাই প্রথমদিন কাজের শেষে সেগুলি সাবানে ধুয়ে, নিজ দ্বায়িত্বে পরদিন আবার ব্যবহার করবেন।

৩- মাস্ক এবং প্রোটেক্টিভ ক্যাপ প্রথম দিনের কাজের পর বেসক্যাম্পে নির্দিস্ট স্থানে জমা করা হবে এবং দ্বিতীয় দিন নতুন সেট নিজেদের মনে করে নিয়ে নিতে হবে।

৪- কাজ করার সময় অবশ্যই গ্লাভস পরবেন।

৫- হাওয়াই চটি কিংবা খালি পায়ে কাজ করবেন না।

৬- হালকা রঙের জামা পরে কাজ করলে গরম কম লাগবে।

৭- ইনজেকশন সিরিঞ্জ, সূচ ইত্যাদিতে হাত দেবেন না। জায়গাটিকে চিহ্নিত করে আপনার দলের বাকিদের সঙ্গে পরামর্শ করে সিদ্ধান্ত নেবেন।

৮- অন্তত দুজনের একটা করে জুটি বানিয়ে কাজ করবেন। একা কোথাও যাবেন না।

৯- মৃত কিংবা আহত কোন প্রাণীর গায়ে হাত দেবেন না।

১০- নদীর পাড়ে কাজের সময় জোয়ার-ভাটার খেয়াল রাখতে হবে।

১১- নিজেরা কাজের ফাঁকে মাঝেমধ্যে কিছু খাবার এবং জল অবশ্যই খাবেন। হিট-এক্সার্সন, ডিহাইড্রেসন এর কথা মাথায় রেখে চলবেন। মাঝেমধ্যে বিশ্রাম নিয়ে আবার কাজ করবেন।

১২- একা কেউ খুব ভারী কিছু তোলার চেষ্টা করবেন না।সেরকম কিছু করা একান্ত প্রয়োজন হলে দলের সাহায্য নিন।

১৩- খাঁড়ি অঞ্চলে কাজের সময় গাছের শিকড়, শ্বাস মূল, ভাঙা ডালপালা, ভাঙা ইটের টুকরো ইত্যাদির কথা মাথায় রাখবেন।

১৪- নদীর পাড়ের মাটি পিছল এবং স্থান বিশেষে পা গভীরে বসে যেতে পারে। আপনার দলের অভিজ্ঞ সৈনিকদের পরামর্শ মত কাজ করবেন।

১৫- কালভার্ট এর তলায় কিংবা বড় ড্রেনপাইপের ভিতরে ঢুকবেন না।

১৬- কোভিড-১৯ এর কথা মাথায় রেখে গ্রামের মধ্যে কাজ করার সময় অলি-গলির মধ্যে কিংবা কারও ঘরে প্রবেশ করবেন না।

১৭- কলকাতা থেকে আসা ভলান্টিয়ারদের থাকার ব্যবস্থা স্যান্ডেলের বিল গ্রামের সাইক্লোন শেলটারে। এখানে পরিষ্কার টয়লেট-স্নানঘর রয়েছে। বিদ্যুত নেই। ভলান্টিয়ারদের জন্য পানীয় জল এখানে মজুত আছে। মোবাইলের জন্য পাওয়ার ব্যাংক আনতে পারেন। শোবার ব্যবস্থা এই সাইক্লোন শেল্টারের ঘরে। মাটিতে পলিথিন চাদর বিছনো রয়েছে। আপনি চাইলে অতিরিক্ত ক্যাম্পিং ম্যাট আনতে পারেন। এছাড়া এক-দুই রাত ঘরের বাইরে কাটানোর মত অত্যাবশ্যক কিন্তু ন্যুনতম জিনিষপত্র আনতে ভুলবেন না। বাড়িতে আপনি নিজে যদি কোন ওষুধ রোজ খেয়ে থাকেন, তবে সেই ওষুধ সঙ্গে আনতে ভুলবেন না। একটা টর্চ থাকলে মন্দ হয় না। ওডোমস জাতীয় মশা তাড়ানোর মলম সঙ্গে রাখতে পারেন। তবে কলকাতার থেকে মশার উপদ্রব এই সাইক্লোন শেলটার অঞ্চলে বেশ কম। সঙ্গে একটা করে চা খাবার কাপ আনতে পারলে ভাল হয়।

কনকনগর সৃষ্টিধর ইনস্টিটিউসনের সক্রিয় ভলান্টিয়ার বাহিনীর পক্ষ থেকে সকলকে আন্তরিক ধন্যবাদ।

The Programme

Day 1 ( 14th June): 

The volunteers from Kolkata and suburbs met in different rendezvous points and then drove to Hingalganj. After arrival at the Kanaknagar SD Institution, the Kolkata volunteers were delighted to join an ongoing programme there. At that time, a distribution of solar lights among Madhyamik examinees of the school was under progress. This was soon followed by a distribution of nutritional food among pregnant ladies of Sandeler Bill village and the vicinity. The Kolkata volunteers were thrilled and thankful to be a part of this whole process. In the evening, the team sat down together and Sri Pulak Roy Chowdhury shared his experiences from the past few weeks of working across Hingalganj and projected his vision of a greener, better, self-reliant Hingalganj. The team also discussed and finalized the action plans for the next two days.

Sri Pulak Roy Chowdhury (in blue shirt on the left) addresses the patient and queued up villagers in front of the school entrance. 

Day 2 (15th June):

In the morning, the team gathered in the school compund once again and after a quick cleaning of the school perimeters, left directly to Rupmari Ferry Ghat on the river Goureshwar.

Upon reaching the Ferry Ghat, while waiting for the boat to arrive, the volunteers started cleaning the East side of the river, on the adjacent area of the jetty. Then the team went across the river and reached the Rupmari Bazar, i.e. the Western banks of river Goureshwar. The team now split in several small units. Each of the small unit was instructed to collect by practising the 'segregation at source' method. Each unit comprised 2-3 members and they focused on collecting either PET bottles or plastic bags in their collection sacks. Rupmari Ghat and Bazar being one of the epicentres of major relief material distrbution, the plastic waste situation was really perturbing. The following are a few images of ongoing cleaning operation at Rupmari.

Members of the team, with Sri Pulak Roy Chowdhury at the helm, engaged in conversations with locals and shopkeepers of Rupamari and tried to convey the problem of plastic pollution to each and everyone they met. The locals seemed to be genuinely interested in improving the situation and promised to work together if alternative ways of waste disposal is made available there. After completion of work at Rupmari, the team gathered all the collection bags, sealed them and loaded them on the ferry and started their return journey to base camp. After a refreshing shower at base camp and a delicious lunch at the school kitchen, the team resorted to the breezy roof of the base camp ( the cyclone shelter of Sandeler Bill village) and relaxed.

Photo: Rivusoumya das

Day 3 (16th June): 

Day 3 began with an early breakfast of Muri-Alur Tarkari at the school. On this day, the team focused their attention on the closeby Bankra village. Upon reaching the village, the team divided in two separate bodies and started their cleaning work from the Bankra ground in front of the Kazi Nazrul school. Soon, the teams took two separate ways through meandering village path and covered the entire Bankra village in a circle. Once again, the team while collecting, did segregation at source and mainly picked up PET bottles and plastic bags/wraps. A few images from our cleaning programme at Bankra is placed below:

During that day's operation, Prabir Mandal kept on announcing the team's purpose and also spoke about the perils of plastic use in general. We could see that the team's uniform and disciplined approach was making an impact on the locals to some extent. Many of the residents came forward and joined hands and expressed their solidarity in future projects such as this one.

At the end of the day, we returned to our base camp once again and segregated the cumulative collection of plastic waste. After some weighing and calculating, we realized that we had collected 14 bags of PET bottles ( each bag weighing 5 kilos in average) and 14 bags of Plastic packing material ( each bags weighing 15 kilos in average).

We decided to store this collection in our base camp for the time being as we have plans to return to Hingalganj very soon for a follow up cleaning drive. After the completion of the second cleaning programme we will bring the garbage together to Kolkata and hand it over to a recycling unit for its last rites.

Conclusion:

We know that such cleaning programmes, no matter how frequently done, is not going to solve the problem. Keeping that in mind, we are now in the process of developing a sustainable programme that will truly make Hingalganj green, again. The following image, in the writer of this report's mind, remains the symbolic highlight of this Plastic Cleaning drive by Kanaknagar SD Institution.

In this photo we see a city volunteer providing anchor (by holding hands) to a Hingalganj volunteer while the latter leans forward to pick up plastic from a pond. True spirit of camaraderie in action! We feel certain that we are going to see many more such actions of team work and selfless service to the community in near future in Team Hingalganj.

Note:

1. We shall post an up-to-date statement of accounts here in this blog in the next few days.
2. We shall also share our vision regarding a clean and green Hingalganj. 

Hingalganj- What Money Will Not Buy

Hingalganj- What Money Will Not Buy
Prof. Sipra Mukherjee*

Villagers queue up to receive essential relief materials in Santra Para village 

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to its knees. And for the poor of Bengal, the extended lockdown and then the Amphan cyclone have together dealt a very severe blow. But in the wake of the horrendous cyclone, the experience of these teams bringing relief and health care to the villages further down the river from Hingalgunj, speaks of another finding - that another silent epidemic is sweeping through rural Bengal- as silent as the virus and as deadly in the way it saps strength and will. Stress and depression. The medical team that visited Hingalgunj and the remote villages of Rupmari, Kalitala, Chhoto Sahebkhali had gone equipped with the medicines for the usual suspects that plague human beings after a natural disaster: medicines for diarrhoea, fever, wounds, pains, skin diseases. All of these were needed, but the overwhelming need was found to be for anti-depressants.

I had, on first hearing, been taken aback at this overwhelming need for anti-depressants. At the very next moment, the ‘only to be expected’ nature of the situation came home to me. Yet most of us, outsiders all, had been taken unawares in varying degrees. Of course, the very next moment we had all realised the inevitability and naturalness of the situation. The minds and bodies of these people had been put to immense stress over the past 2 months. The sudden lockdown of the country left these marginalised people confronted with an unknowable future. With family members stuck elsewhere, without any source of income, these families were totally unprepared for this extended lockdown. And then came the cyclone and swept away what little they had.

Dr. Kallol Das prescribing medicines during a medical camp at Bainara village, Rupmari

The uncertainty of the sudden lockdown that they had no means of controlling, and then the violence of the cyclone. In the face of an unknown and unknowable future, the mind baulks, the stress is unmanageable. Why, then, the surprise? Why is it that ‘depression’, ‘stress’ are words that we associate in our minds with urban life? Is there really any truth in the belief that these are urban problems, related to lifestyle issues which the rich can afford to have? Or is the reality that depression and stress are issues that only the rich can afford to treat?

There is a certain loss of agency connected with depression and stress. The rationale usually believed to lie behind urban depression is a loss of power, a sensing of vulnerability that the individual cannot cope with, - and hence a feeling of hopelessness and futility that leads to depression. It is clear from the first-hand experience of my friends who are working on the ground, however, that this is a myth.

But the point of my writing today is not just that I have realised the falseness of an earlier subconscious belief in urban depression. It is, rather, the realisation that the very narratives generally used for the marginalised are false. The terms that are used to describe the poor: ‘vulnerable’, ‘weak’, ‘marginalised’, ‘powerless’,- are all terms coined from the perspective of the mainstream, the more powerful sections of society. While they all point to some reality and truth, these words all lead us to think about this section in one way: as victims. A victim by definition is one without any agency: passive, only present at the receiving end to absorb whatever pain or pleasure is meted out to them. For victims, it follows then, the possibility of depression is erased. For how can a person who is already without agency and power lose what s/he did not have in the first place?

There is obviously a falseness in this assumption of passivity and victimhood. For if the poor villagers of these villages believed themselves anyway to be always on the brink of destruction and extinction, they would not have been stressed or felt at a loss in the current scenario. It is this extreme situation that has made them feel a loss of agency. There must have been, consequently, an agency they did have. And in the past weeks, post the unplanned lockdown, the thousands of migrant workers have shown that agency when they took the conscious, superhuman, indeed heroic decision to walk home. It is, indeed, stupid of the mainstream to think of the poor as not having agency. When a large part of their lives is lived forsaken by law, basic facilities, and all that citizenship promises us, the marginalised could not have continued to live and work if they did not feel any agency. It is not possible to live in the absence of agency. We are overtaken by depression.

Villagers of Santra Para, Chhoto Shabekhali, comes to meet the volunteers of Kanaknagar SD Institution on bank of river Kalindi

The power of the economically poor is undoubtedly less than the power of the economically rich in the given scenario, but there is power. In fact, as many have argued in this never-before-seen locked down situation, if the rural belt of India decides to stay within its own periphery, and migrant workers decide to stay back in their homes, it is the allegedly powerful who will be left without food, houses and roads. Life will be difficult for the economically poor, but life will be impossible for the economically rich. For money will not buy.

It is in this context that Pulak Roy Chowdhury’s work becomes significant. Pulak, who is spearheading the Hingalgunj effort, joined Kanaknagar S. D. Institution school at Hingagunj in 2014. He has been working here for the last six years, devoting mind and body and soul to the holistic development of his students and their space. With the lockdown, however, Pulak has found his workload and area increased manifold- and has had to shift his priorities- for it is the very basic need of food and now, post-Amphan,- the needs of food, shelter and health that need addressing. Prior to the relief, immediately post-Amphan, Pulak and his friend Simanto, motivated their students and carried out surveys in the affected villages. What were their needs? What precise difficulties were being faced by them? This was unlike the usual narratives that treat the villager as passive, victimised and without agency, to heap relief upon, to not know what is best for him/ her, to be at the receiving end of the more powerful, the more knowledgeable city-dwellers. Of the huge team that Pulak is attempting to get together, I know of only the few who have reached there with Anindya: the team of doctors led by Dr Kallol (along with Dr. Ashish Kundu and Dr. Suvashish Mukherjee) and the team made up of the dynamic Subrata, Rivusoumya, Sourav, Tapas, Ribhu, Diptesh, and Ananda . Along with the 'Volunteer Army' of Kanaknagar SD Institution, in the forefront of which are Prabir, Suman, Paltan, Biplab and Aniruddha; they have completed two trips, and are gearing up for the 3rd trip this coming Sunday (14th June 2020). As Anindya wrote in the first blog here, almost with foresight: this will not be a one-time effort. Arriving with relief and doctors, Pulak’s connection with Anindya has been one of those fortunate coincidences that life sometimes rewards us with.


Standing at a historical juncture as we are now, it is imperative that we recognise the agency that those we call the ‘marginalised’ and ‘vulnerable' possess. If we see them as victims, we are myopic. For if victims, then the idea of heroes becomes distant, and all our food-growers, house-makers and city-builders are viewed as victims, will-be martyrs, with neither significant action nor direction. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Sri Pulak Roychowdhury engaged in conversation with villagers of Amberia

*Sipra Mukherjee is a Professor at the Department of English, West Bengal State University and one of key members of the Hingalganj initiative.