Only a few years back, they used to freely express their opinion on the social and political happenings in the state. But with the politics of 'Change' in the air, the light-workers of Chandannagar, who have made their trade famous by their decorative lighting during the festivals in Kolkata, Chandannagar and even outside the state, are cautiously avoiding any politically sensitive issue to show case their work of lights during the Durga Puja festival.
Shridhar Das, the pioneer and the leading light of Chandannagar light- workers industry informs Business Standard, “People come to us with all sorts of proposals to depict street violence, train accidents like Jnaneswari Express incident and other events which borders on the political and social commentaries. I desist myself from doing that. I tell them, let's not do something which might put people off.” Instead, Shridhar Das has focussed on depicting the hazards of pollution in our environment. “There is pollution in water, air and even we are suffering from noise pollution. So, I have depicted how these are impacting our life in a series of panels illuminated by LED lamps,” informs Shridhar.
Only, a few years ago, light workers of Chandannagar used the theme of peasants' movement for their land against administration during the festivals. Though Nandigram and Singur were not written with light on those panels, people easily identified them with these groundbreaking events. Even the initial euphoria over the Nano car's plant in Singur drew attention of Chandannagar light-workers.
But, coinciding with the growing political clash in rural Bengal, the Chandannagar light-workers have moved away from those contemporary events. Now, there is a growing tendency among the 250-300 odd light-units of Chandannagar to base their themes on relatively ‘secular’ subjects.
Bhim Das, better known as ‘Mama’ is a new generation light-worker-cum-contractor of Chandannagar.
This year, Bhim Das has showcased the brief sketches of the life and achievement of some of the celebrities of Bengal. “The change in technology has forced us to shift away from topical subjects and stick to some themes which will have more shelf-life,” explains Bhim Das. Earlier, they used to create the panel depicting events using rollers and other traditional electrical gadgets. The materials could be used for a number of times.
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Now, with the advent of LED lamps, they cannot use the panels more than once.
“The cost of making an 8 ‘X10’ LED panel comes to Rs 30, 000. So, we are careful in choosing the themes which could be used for a considerable period to make enough return possible,” says Bhim Das.
Shridhar Das points out that though LED has changed the working of the Chandannagar light-work, it requires less amount of electricity. Earlier, the load of a 30‘X10’ panel was used to be 130 KW. Now, it has come down to merely 1400 watts,” informs Shridhar. It is safer as well because the panel board are run with 12 volts, so the question of getting electrocuted does not arise.
Industry works round the year to illuminate with their decorative lightings a number of festivals in India. Ofcourse, it works mostly during Durga Puja when Chandannagar light play a major role in illuminating the festivities mostly in West Bengal and partly in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. During Diwali, the demand for Chandannagar light goes up in Chennai, Mumbai and Pune. People like Shridhar Das and his team are regularly invited to illuminate events like Ganga-Thames Festival in London or Festival of India in Moscow. Bhim Das was invited by Andhra Pradesh government a few months back to take part in Telangana festival in Hyderabad.
According to Shridhar and Bhim, around 50,000 workers are engaged in this unorganised industry under 300 contractors. For illuminating a puja pandal, the Chandannagar light contractors charge minimum Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh depending on the load of work. In Kolkata alone, there are more than 1000 Durga Puja held every year and a majority of them hire Chandannagar lights. So, business is good.
But, with this change of technology another problem has arisen. Earlier, the materials, electric circuits, lamps (fitted with tiny bulbs) and other materials were manufactured mostly in a place called Dakhshin Barasat in South 24 Parganas, where people of some villages used to make their living by manufacturing these gadgets at their home. Now, LED lamp, condenser, dyad, Integrated Circuit and transistors made in China have flooded the market. “The LED has replaced the traditional technology and with it rendered villagers of South 24 Parganas jobless,” says Bhim Das.