Thanks to the controversy over the movie Udta Punjab, the image of the State of Punjab was salvaged as it unfolded the ulterior political motives behind the production of the movie well in advance. But the film, Gangs of Wasseypur that has never been in controversy has tarnished the image of Dhanbad district of Jharkhand in which Wasseypur is situated.
The coal capital of India, Dhanbad, has suffered major loss of face and it can be seen in the ratings it received either from the government agencies or by the public in general and is now struggling to salvage its image. While it has been declared as dirtiest district of the country by the Government of India, the over-projection of heinous crimes in the movie, Gangs of Wasseypur, with the avowed objective to hit box-office has tarnished the district too. Students who opted to explore academic opportunities for their higher education outside Dhanbad or Jharkhand are questioned about the crimes of Wasseypur. Indeed, they feel embarrassed since they are not responsible. However, most answer on a positive note claiming they had never experienced criminal activities of the degree depicted in the movie.
Punkaj Kumar, a senior journalist of a national English daily in Dhanbad revealed that the ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ has maligned the image of Dhanbad to the hilt and students suffered humiliation whenever they have gone to take admission outside Jharkhand and are asked uncomfortable questions about the crimes of Wasseypur. He recalled: “When my daughter went to take administration out of the State after completing her 12th, she was made fun of when she disclosed that she was from Dhanbad. In a derisive manner, interviewers cautioned others to be careful about her as she could have antecedents of taking to arms even on small disagreements. She, however, asked them to relax as she had never faced any ordeal whenever she had been at Wasseypur of her home district.”
Incidentally, it is not only Punkaj Kumar and his daughter who have had to face awkward situations because of the association with Wasseypur. None other than the Mayor of Dhanbad, Chandra Shekhar Agrawal, expressed his anguish over the stigma the district had earned owing to the depiction of the distorted truth about Wasseypur in the movie. He confided that even at the Mayors Conference – that he had attended along with 99 Mayors from 36 countries – in China he was asked about the crime situation in Dhanbad.
The district that has been struggling to get rid of the tarnishing it has earned for being ranked as the dirtiest city in the country out of a total of 73 cities surveyed, has drawn the attention of Agrawal.
Agrawal conceded that the Mayors’ Conference in China had been an eye opener for him and he had taken a vow to remove the district’s criminal legacy. He claimed that Dhanbad had enough potential to ensure development of Jharkhand. He proposed to develop the area into a destination for coal-tourism that would include live shows of art, culture and sports by local artists at Wasseypur.
Agrawal has sought Rs. 600 crore from the State Government to turn the area into a tourist’s delight. This will go to set up a sports complex at Wasseypur where live shows of horse-riding, wrestling, boxing etc. will be performed by local artists with the objective to woo tourists from across the globe. He has proposed to develop home-restaurants along the complex involving locals. This would help restore the image of Wasseypur and Dhanbad as well.
Agrawal said that thousands of people from different parts of the country visited the world-famous Shiva temple in the nearby district of Deoghar every year, but they did not want to stay back in the area for more than a day for want of basic amenities including accommodation, recreation and law and order. He contended that had there been such services, tourists would have spent more time in the area. Consequently, with the support of money spent by tourists, the State would earn substantial revenue to cater to the need of other developmental schemes as well, Agrawal claimed.
In order to improve the overall condition of Dhanbad, Agrawal has further sought a financial assistance of Rs. 700 crore from the Centre. He informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the on-going mission ‘Clean-Dhanbad, Green-Dhanbad’ through a three-minute brief video conference on August 6. The Prime Minister was apprised of the DPR being prepared by an independent consultant for execution of the guidelines issued by the Union Government under the Swachh Bharat Mission for the purpose. Agrawal said that the Union Government had already sanctioned Rs 250 crore under Swachh Bharat Mission to the district.
As per the Government of India Survey-2016, of the 73 cities surveyed, Mysuru topped the list followed by Chandigarh, Tiruchirappalli and the NDMC area of the national capital while Dhanbad in Jharkhand has been ranked the worst among the 10 least clean cities that includes Varanasi from the PM’s constituency.
Other cities which have founded a place in the 10 cleanest category in the survey, conducted by Quality Council of India in February this year, include Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Surat (Gujarat), Rajkot (Gujarat), Gangtok (Sikkim), Pimpri-Chindwad (Maharashtra) and Greater Maharashtra.
The least clean cities included Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Asansol (West Bengal), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Patna (Bihar), Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) and Kalyan Dombivili (Maharashtra).
To top it all, although Agrawal expressed anguish over the fact that Dhanbad had earned a bad name for being dirtiest city of the country, he was confident of restoring the impeccable credentials of the coal-capital of the country if it was provided with substantial financial aid from the Centre and the state government as well.
BW Reporters
D.P. Sharan has been a journalist for the past 30 years and has served many national dailies, magazines and channels. He has also been a member at the Central Board of Film Certification, Mumbai under I&B Ministry, Government of India
