Calcutta, Sept. 15: A technician involved in the recapture of the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) property near Taratala told The Telegraph today that he became a part of the 150-member team that invaded the campus to save his job that pays him Rs 435 a day 23 days a month.
"I do not know whether Shree Venkatesh Films was illegally occupying the plot or not. I am not interested either. I was only interested in saving my job, which helps me take care of my family," he said. In his mid-thirties, the technician handles lighting at studios.
The comments suggest that those behind the recapture had used the helplessness of the television industry's casual workers to take back the CPT property at P-51 Hide Road Extension.
According to the technician, handlers like him - engaged in various activities ranging from assisting make-up artistes to pushing camera trolleys - started trickling in from around 8.30am on Sunday although it was their day off.
"A Venkatesh official had called up some of us and said that if the CPT managed to evict us, the shooting of four serials would stop and we would lose our jobs," the technician said, adding that he was not a recipient of the call.
"My colleagues told me about it and I rushed there that morning to protect my job," said the technician, the sole earning member of a family of five that includes his aged and ailing parents, wife and a school-going daughter.
The danger of losing a job seemed real to the technician because earlier this month, Venkatesh, co-owned by Shrikant Mohta, who is close to the chief minister, stopped the shooting of two mega serials - Mon Niye Kachakachi and Gouridaan - at P-51 Hide Road Extension, rendering 130 technicians jobless.
Irregular employment and long stretches of unemployment is not uncommon in Tollywood, where television is the main revenue avenue for producers and the primary source of employment for actors, actresses and technicians.
Sources in Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India said around 5,500 technicians were enrolled with the outfit. Production houses have to employ those registered with the association.
"Around 35 serials are on the floors and each requires around 60 to 70 technicians, which means only 2,200-odd people can be employed. The remaining people are excess," a source said.
The excess workforce came in handy on Sunday morning for those who unleashed them on the security guards of the CPT, who were protecting the compound after carrying out a legitimate eviction drive.
"With the flow of chit fund (deposit-mobilising companies) money drying up, work opportunities have reduced in Tollywood. Only a handful of production houses such as Shree Venkatesh, who have the blessings of the government, are giving employment opportunities to technicians. These production houses are forcing technicians to dance to their tunes. I am not surprised that technicians raided the CPT compound," said actress and BJP leader Locket Chatterjee.
A Trinamul source said the manner in which the recapture was planned and executed made it clear that the advice of seasoned politicians had been taken.
"The real instigators were not seen anywhere. If there is a case, they can always claim innocence and pass the buck onto the technicians by saying that the fear of losing their jobs prompted them to take law into their hands," the Trinamul source said.
Some CPT officials said they were aware of the employment card the illegal occupants of the plot allegedly played while recapturing the premises.
"Establishing the conspiracy would not be difficult if police scan the television footage and start the investigation by questioning the technicians. It would not take long to establish who was involved in hatching the conspiracy. But the question is, will they do it?" a senior CPT official asked.
"We have started an investigation and are in the process of questioning the technicians and the others who might have been involved in Sunday's attack," a senior officer of Taratala police station said.
Attempts to reach Mohta drew a blank as his phone was switched off and he didn't respond to text messages. The other co-owner of the production house, Mahendra Soni, disconnected the call.
Now that the CPT has filed a police complaint, the technician who spoke to this newspaper is spending sleepless nights. The charges the CPT has levelled against the intruders is punishable with imprisonment of up to two years.
"The television channels are showing our faces and pointing fingers at us. If the police take any action, we will be in the line of fire though we were only acting under someone's instructions. What would happen to our families?" the technician asked.
This evening, five persons named in an FIR - Roney, Harun, Bharat Kaul, Arovindo Dasgupta and Suven Das -surrendered before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate of Alipore court and were granted bail.
According to the technician, the people who entered the compound broke open the locks the CPT authorities had put on the main gate, the studios and other rooms and threatened and beat up the guards and journalists.
"We did enter the campus, but only after 30-odd outsiders scaled the wall and opened the gates for us. Everything was done as part of a plan and we were performing our roles. Some of us did hurl stones, but the entire operation was carried out by the 30 people," the technician said.
This newspaper reported today, quoting Trinamul sources, that an INTTUC office, barely 200 metres from the CPT compound, had acted as the control room from where the entire operation was monitored.
