With municipal elections around the corner, state Congress leaders allegedly forced bill board firms to pull down the hoardings that portray an apologetic Manmohan Singh in the year 2020, expressing regret for not acting to save India's coast.
"There is pressure from Congress leaders and workers to hoarding owner to take them down," a Greenpeace spokesperson said.
On Thursday, Earth Day, Greenpeace installed 12 billboards in Kolkata (Alipore, AJC Bose Road, Dhakuria Bridge, Prince Anwar Shah Road, Sai Complex, Salt Lake City Center, Salt Lake Karunamoyee, Salt Lake tank no 4, Santoshpur flyover, Howrah Station, VIP Road and Ganguly Bagan) with the underlying message that if leaders do not act now to protect India's marine and coastal environment, they will regret their indecision in future.
At least three of the 12 hoardings at Dhakuria, Prince Anwar Shah Road and Ganguli Bagan are under threat, Greenpeace activists claimed.
Congress leader Manas Bhunia declined comment saying it was sensitive and he didn't have all relevant facts.
The hoardings featured digitally altered photographs of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2020 with the message: "I'm sorry, I could have saved India's coast. I didn't."
Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Union minister of environment and forest Jairam Ramesh were also portrayed in a similar fashion, with Ramesh's message saying that he was not allowed to save India's coast a reference to pressure from industry and members of his own party to go slow on green protection measures.
"These billboards are reminders to politicians across all parties that they need to act now to protect our coastal and marine ecosystems. Rather than suppressing free speech and demanding that they be removed, our political leaders need to tell the nation what they are doing to protect our coastal environment, and to ensure that mistakes such as the Dhamra port project in Orissa are never repeated," said Ashish Fernandes, Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace India.
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