Prothom Alo’s admin barely cares for journos’ life

Prothom Alo often raises its voice to protect rights of people from different sectors of the society, presenting itself a shelter for hapless individuals, while its admin section cheats with journalists and staff, posing serious risks for them.

Author, journalist, teacher and a former photojournalist and content creator of Prothom Alo, Sudeepto Salam, in his book “Photosangbadiker Journal: Prothom Alor Ondormohol” has brought this self-contradictory role of the Bengali daily.

Recalling the role of Prothom Alo’s admin section during the pandemic days, Sudeepto writes Head of Admin Utpal Kumar Chakravarty had sent an e-mail to all journalists and staff requesting to follow health guidelines.

According to Sudeepto, the next day journalist Samsur Rahman Adil gave a reply to the mail. 

“Here are some parts of it, ‘Thanks for the reminder to follow hygiene rules. But I want to say one thing with great sadness. In front of the door of 12th floor, hand sanitizer is provided inside. Their bottles are of Sepnil from Square Toiletries. Only the bottle is of Sepnil, the sanitizer inside is from a disreputable company called Chemtrack Corporation. What comes inside the Sepnil bottle is a very nasty, strong smelling sanitizer. Filling and keeping these bottles daily is fraudulence,’” he recalls.

Sudeepto thinks with this answer, Adil actually opened a “Pandora’s box”, making it clear that no matter how much the administration department tells about the health risks of journalists and staff, they are monsters.

He observes every word of Adil’s reply was true. They were being given cheap and smelly so-called sanitizers in the name of Sepnil. And it was not only on the 12th floor, they forced the journalists and staff to use this ‘sanitizer’ everywhere.

Sudeepto raises a dangerous question, saying, “Well, if someone now complains that the willful negligence of the administration department is also responsible for the fact that so many workers of Prothom Alo contracted coronavirus and several died, then will it be too much?”

Many others responded following Adil’s reply. Some of them complained that using this sanitizer was causing their skin complication. Sheikh Tanveer Mahmud Sohail, the then in-charge of Prothom Alo online department, wrote, “The information presented by Samsur Rahman Adil is terrible. This kind of deception is not acceptable.”

But Head of Admin Utpal gave a damn on it. He replied nothing happened to be sad here and they know that cheap and smelly sanitizers were put in the bottle of Sepnil!

His words made journalists furious. The speed of e-mail exchange gained more momentum. Everyone was expecting that someone from editor’s level will address the issue. Managing Editor poet Sajjad Sharif finally placed his opinion, shattering the optimism of Prothom Alo workers as he took Utpal’s side.

He said such exchange of e-mails is ruining the office environment and consequently, the issue gradually disappeared as by the time, the fear for losing jobs gripped all journalists.

Mentioning about the influence of the administration department, Sudeepto writes, “The administration department in Prothom Alo is very powerful and anti-journalists. How can they be like this? Where is the source of their power? The answer is, Moti Bhai. Insects are found in canteen’s food but no one is held accountable. There were always undeclared ‘Indemnity Ordinances’ for administrative departments and they were out of touch. Why? Various stories are heard.”