Iman, Kharaj accuse event organisers of default, misconduct

The huge hoarding of Uttarbanga Sahitya O Sanskriti Utsab 2017, organised by Malda Shilpi Sanskriti Mancha from June 2-4, promised to host big stars at its cultural programme. However, the event turned out to be a damp squib with stars accusing the organisers of defaulting on payments and utter mismanagement.
Sheer lies
Singer Iman Chakraborty, one of the featured artistes of the show, is still recuperating from the ordeal she had to face.“The organisers got in touch with me about 15 days ago. They booked me for June 4 by paying a token amount and promised to pay half of the total amount a few days before the event and the rest on the day of the show,” the singer told CT. However, things went awry soon after. “They suddenly stopped contacting me. My team kept on trying to reach them but to no avail. I had no idea whether to go or not. Even my calls to them just a night before the show went unanswered. So, I finally decided against going there,” she added.
It didn’t stop there. On the day of her performance, Iman kept receiving messages from members of the audience saying they were waiting to watch her perform. “I was flabbergasted. Apparently, the organisers announced that I was on my way but was stuck in a jam near Jangipur, Murshidabad. It was a sheer lie. People paid money to watch me and I was completely unaware of what was going on. This is when I decided to take it up on social media,” said Iman, who went on Facebook Live to explain the entire situation to her fans.
Utter chaos
Kharaj Mukhopadhyay, one of the performers, labelled the event as chaotic and mismanaged. “After much deliberation, I got my payment. But there was utter chaos. They paid me just an hour before the show. I was supposed to catch the 9.35 pm train but my performance did not start before 8 pm. I rushed to the station and on reaching there, we realised that two of the three tickets the organisers booked for us were not confirmed,” said the actor.
Organisers speak
Manas Das, one of the organisers, denied the allegations outright. He said, “Despite taking a token advance payment, Iman didn’t turn up. We had to face criticism because of her.” On being asked if they announced that Iman was on her way, he said, “We can’t always track who’s announcing what at a big event like ours. But we did announce that she will not be coming due to unavoidable reasons.”