‘THE Hitavada’ and public interest campaigns and unique series of reports have become synonymous over the years. The year 2021 was no exception. Taking bold stand even against the high and mighty, and standing by the people in right causes, has been more pronounced during the year passing by. Going by the reports, photo features, and follow-up stories carried, the dominant focus area of ‘The Hitavada’ campaigns in the year 2021 was environment protection. May it be the campaign against proposed felling of trees in ‘Ajni Vann’ for the ambitious Inter-Modal Station (IMS) project, or need for conservation of lakes and water bodies in the city, ‘The Hitavada’ always stood by the public interest and not the vested interests. The ‘Ajni Vann’ campaign involved in-depth coverage of various dimensions of the story, official stand, viewpoints of the environmentalists, and opinion pieces that made the public discourse well informed. Towards the end of the year came the news from reliable sources that the IMS project was likely to be either shelved or shifted to Khapri or Gumgaon.

 

 

 

Though no official word is out yet on this, the year 2022 is likely to see the announcement or amendment. If the authorities concerned continue with the plans to fell (or, according to their claims, even relocate) the trees in the upcoming year, Nagpurians also will indeed continue with the campaign to save ‘Ajni Vann’. And, ‘The Hitavada’ will stand firm in the ‘public-paper-partnership’ initiative. In fact, the ‘Save Ajni Vann’ campaign served as a trigger for the sustained campaign with excellent photographic support, highlighting the other green spaces within the city but not known to many. Of course, some people raised genuine concern that highlighting the green spaces might attract the attention of the so-called pro-development lobbies. But, ‘The Hitavada’ felt that informing the people in advance about the need for preserving the city’s greenery was better than crying hoarse when some project was proposed entailing felling of trees. While doing all this, ‘The Hitavada’ never forgot to keep track and follow-up on the campaigns run in the previous years.

 

There was follow-up of the campaigns relating to conservation of lakes and water bodies. In some measure, it became successful. However, the issue of water bodies needs constant and more pronounced support of the people too. Then, there were follow-up stories and photo features on road conditions, bad engineering, lack of maintenance and repairs of flyovers, exposing the tall claims of authorities regarding the maintenance of cleanliness in the city, pollution, fly ash utilisation, firecrackers, noise levels, various orders of National Green Tribunal, actions taken or not taken by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, among other issues. No doubt, these were local issues. But, they also bore significance considering their impact on the overall development debate. ‘The Hitavada’ not only touched upon the development aspect of the story, but it also focused on policy matters. One example was the sustained campaign quoting the experts, on the proposed amendments in the Forest Conservation Act. It received attention not only in the region but also in other parts of the country, and comments came in from topmost retired officers of Forest Department. Apart from the environment issues, ‘The Hitavada’ never shied away from taking the right stand.

 

As the COVID-19 pandemic dampened the public morale, ‘The Hitavada’ kept raising right questions at right time. During the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed the inadequacies in preparations by various authorities, ‘The Hitavada’ highlighted the issues like shortage leading to black-marketing of Remdesivir, Tocilizumab injections and other medicines, samples of various hand-sanitisers and injections found to be ‘spurious’, shortage of medical oxygen etc. Of course, ‘The Hitavada’ did recognise the contribution of officers and leaders who deserved appreciation for taking initiative in restoring control of the situation. It also appreciated the administration and people when their collective efforts ensured better performance in COVID-19 vaccination, which had started earlier this year, in the State. At the same time, it did not spare them whenever someone erred or delayed response to situation. While serving the sustainable development interest, ‘The Hitavada’ also utilised the media space for highlighting the role of the nation-builders.

 

As the nation is celebrating ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ or 75th anniversary of Indian Independence, ‘The Hitavada’ came up with a series of articles on nation-builders, with photographs highlighting the present state of the statues of some of the national heroes. The series was received well by the readers, and many even informed that they got to know some interesting details about the heroes. Similarly, ‘The Hitavada’ joined the nation in celebrating ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ by highlighting contribution of the heroes of 1971 Indo-Pak war that culminated into creation of Bangladesh 50 years ago. In fact, ‘The Hitavada’ proved to be the only newspaper in the region to have run a series and honour the 1971 war veterans in a unique way. Further, one important contribution ‘The Hitavada’ has been making is presenting facts on historical events. May it be the events in commemoration of which ‘Golibar Chowk’ came into being, or the historic Sitabuldi Fort about which Maha Metro’s ‘Freedom Park’ presented a plaque giving inaccurate information to public, ‘The Hitavada’ endeavoured to present correct references so that inaccurate mention of events does not lay foundation for parochial or vested interests utilising an event or monument for community pride instead of treating the monuments as part of shared heritage.

 

One can go on and on writing about public interest journalism espoused by ‘The Hitavada’ in 2021 as part of the tradition. As the year is drawing to a close, COVID-19 scare is back to haunt the people, this time, in the form of ‘Omicron’ variant. However, the year gone by offered hope in the form of vaccination. Though the atmosphere appears to be grim towards the end of the year, with collective resolve to stick to guidelines and the enthusiasm to explore newer things, year 2022 will come as a year of hope. ‘The Hitavada’ also will continue with its role of offering hope to all the right causes, and being the custodian of public interest. It’s never over till it’s actually over...