Civic body to come up with spl edition of magazine on Netaji

KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will come up with a special edition of 'Puroshree' on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to commemorate his 125th birth anniversary, for which the celebrations have begun since January 23 this year. Netaji's grandnephew Sugata Bose and Sumantra Bose will act as guest editors for compilation of the same.

The duo paid a visit to the KMC archives on Saturday to find out the documents related to Netaji available with the civic body. Outgoing Chief Whip of KMC Ratna Sur accompanied them to the archives and briefed them in details about KMC's plan regarding the special edition.

"The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has sought our assistance for bringing out a special edition on Netaji. Me and Sumantra have agreed to their proposal," Sugata Bose said.

Bose expressed satisfaction with KMC's digitisation of the Calcutta Municipal Gazette, which was published in 1924. Netaji was the first to decide upon its publication.

Apart from a number of good writings on Netaji, several news related to his activities also used to come out in the Calcutta Municipal Gazette.

"The special edition will also reflect the exchange of information with Netaji Research Bureau (NRB). We have many writings and letters by Netaji himself at NRB which include a portrayal of a number of cities in the world that he had visited. There is a vivid description of what he had seen and what were the civic amenities in various European cities. All this information will be used in compilation of the special edition,"he added.

NRB is situated on Elgin Road where Netaji lived before his Great Escape in 1943. Special emphasis will be given on Netaji's writings about addressing civic issues.

Subhas Chandra, who was an Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer, became the Chief Executive Officer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (now Kolkata Municipal Corporation) in 1924 when his political mentor Chittaranjan Das was the mayor.

As CEO, he set up a press at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to print its own documents and forms.

Again as the Mayor in 1930, he opened a free primary school.

KMC was the first civic body in the country to provide free primary education. Every primary school had a milk bar so that a glass of milk could be given to the students free-of-cost. Netaji also proposed 30 per cent job reservation for Muslims.