A challenging job

After a hectic schedule in office most of us hardly think of doing anything else apart from looking after our family. But Dr Santanu Banerjee is a class apart.

Generating employment for locals of a particular area is his forte. Madhuparna Das finds out that Dr Santanu Banerjee, an ENT specialist, has also done his bit for the deaf as well

After a hectic schedule in office most of us hardly think of doing anything else apart from looking after our family. But Dr Santanu Banerjee is a class apart. He is one who loves helping out poor villagers find some employment opportunities even at the cost of his busy schedule.

Dr Banerjee, an ENT specialist by profession, heads a non-profitable organisation, Science Association of Bengal. The association comprises of around 20 members who are either doctors or scientists. It works tirelessly to find a way out for generating employment for the poor and the deprived by teaching several scientific procedures to the uneducated people in the state.

8220;We try to understand the need of the people of a particular village and study what kind of vocational training can generate employment in the area. Accordingly, we provide the locals with free vocational training,8221; said Dr Banerjee.

Dr Banerjee and his team have visited far-flung villages in several backward districts of Bankura and Purulia. They have been trying to educate the poor villagers about the use of solar energy, scientific ways of food processing and more than a few ways of fruit cultivation.

8220;We have started a training course in Purulia and Bankura where the villagers are trained to cultivate coloured and ornamental fishes since they are in great demand. The training has been a success. At least 250-300 families in each village have benefited from this,8221; said Dr Banerjee.

Not only in rural areas, even in urban areas and in the city too Dr Banerjee tries his best to generate employment among the local youths.

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8220;I always try to find out the needs of a particular area and consequently generate some work for the unemployed youths there. I found out that vocational training in automobile technology can generate some job opportunities for the locals. So I started a training course in automobile repairing in Jadavpur,8221; said Dr Banerjee.

For funding these training programmes, Dr Banerjee sometimes gets some funds sanctioned by the Central or the state government. The rest is borne by the members of the association.

Not merely content at that, Dr Banerjee is a prolific writer who has authored several dramas on social issues. One of his dramas, 8220;Hasir Phansi8221;, sponsored by the recreation club of the Legislative Assembly and staged at Rabindra Sadan, depicts the needs of the deaf.

8220;Often we find that people are sympathetic to the blind but they crack jokes at the expense of the deaf. Perhaps people cannot understand that the blind and the deaf are equally challenged people and both need sympathy, love, care and affection. Keeping this in mind, I wrote the drama to communicate the problems of the deaf to the world,8221; said Dr Banerjee.

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The dramas and books he wrote are purely for social interest and not for any commercial benefit. 8220;Bed no. 08221; is one of his famous plays which was staged at the Academy of Fine Arts recently.