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Bengal

‘Safe drive, Save life’ campaign the theme for ‘Jai Ho’ event

Banerjee will be in the programme as Chief Guest. “Jai ho” this year will be held on August 19 evening in Netaji Indoor Stadium.

On Thursday, Banerjee will participate in a rally for spreading road safety awareness. Starting from the city’s Moulali Crossing, the rally will end at the Paddock Ground. With eminent personalities and school children in tow, Banerjee will lead the rally to promote the ‘Safe drive Save life’ campaign.

Every year the cultural presentation followed by speeches of chief minister and commissioner of police, Rajeev Kumar, in the three and a half hour long programme begins with a performance of the Kolkata Police’s rank and file. Ministers, all senior IPS, IAS officers and eminent people of the society have also been invited.

This time “Safe drive, Save life” has been chosen as the theme of the opening performance to show how the campaign is changing the whole scenario by creating awareness among drivers and bikers to bring down the rate of road accidents when India tops the list in claiming lives due to reckless and rash driving, said a senior police officer.

Eminent dancer Alokananda Roy has choreographed the plot in which 63 policemen including 12 lady police will dance with the theme song of “Safe drive, Save life” playing at the background. The song was penned by the Chief Minister and is also being played at traffic signals to create awareness among drivers. It has also being telecast in television channels.

Explaining the entire performance, Roy said that the theme song of “Safe drive, Save life” is of around 4 minutes and the complete performance will be of around seven and half minutes. It will initiate with a classical based dance performance highlighting ill effects of air pollution and the plot will proceed as if a policeman, clad in blue and white attire, will come to “rescue the air” (Roy will be performing in the character of Air in the dance plot) from the effects of air pollutants. Soon after, “Air” will be saved from smog by the policeman of the Kolkata Police.

Most of the 63 performers are at present working in the rank constables and four are in the rank of sergeants of the Kolkata Traffic Police. Unlike their everyday duty in pure white uniform, on stage the policemen in blue and white attire will play the characters of a traffic police while the rest will dress themselves as traffic signals, motor cars and a few will be riding motorbikes like rowdies.

In a bid to highlight the effort that a traffic police puts in everyday to keep vehicles moving smoothly despite of any odd situations, only one policeman has been shown checking pollution and managing traffic single handedly. 

Citing example of Rabindranath Tagore’s play “Tasher Desh”, Roy said the presentation will be something of that type with performers dressed as traffic signals and vehicles dancing following the lyrics of the theme song of “Safe drive, Save life” in Indian free style.

At the end of the song, some performers will take the front stage in a row clad in their uniform playing drum as it happens during curtain call of a play. Roy said: “The rehearsals had been taking place for the past 15 days and despite being non-dancers the policemen had been performing excellently during rehearsals. I am confident that they are going to win everyone’s heart with their performance.”
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