Year 1997: A group of likeminded youngsters got together to form a non political voluntary organization, IMPACT. The motto was to stay, work, and have fun together and not to whale away free time and instead do something constructive for the society. Initially, Impact organized Anti Drug road shows in association with Kolkata and West Bengal Police. Senior IPS and IAS officers participated in the road shows at various sensitive areas in the city. The shows were huge success and Impact won lot of accolades for organizing the programmes.
The initial success spurred Impact into organizing Anti Pollution road shows with Kolkata Police at various intersection of the city. The shows were a special drive by the police with the help of NGOs to generate awareness among city’s drivers to ensure that they take necessary measures to keep pollution under control.
Impact’s war against drugs drew attention of State and Federal Government. Celebrities and Senior Law Enforcement officers and Government officials offered their support and guidance to the cause. Impact’s fight- organizing awareness campaign and helping law enforcement agencies identify drug peddlers and drug lords. Braving threats, volunteers of Impact thrived to make areas after areas free from drugs. Impact’s dedication towards war against drugs received international accolades with the World Federation Against Drugs (WFAD), the largest Anti Drug body in the world.
Next came the most touted Puja Fire Safety show. Incidences of fire in Puja pandals were on rise every year and State Government was at wit’s end on the manner in which this problem could be addressed.
The State Government could not force Puja Organisers to adopt fire safety measures and instead they could only appeal to them. But, the appeals were turning to deaf ears as Puia organizers were not willingly to compromise on aesthetic beauty for safety. The measures included proper insulated cables and electric wires and spraying the pandals with fire retardant solutions and then keeping adequate fire alarms inside the pandals.
In 1998, the Fire Service Department tied up with Impact to chalk out an ambitious safety programme during the Pujas. Titled, Impact Sharad Ananda; Impact chalked out a program where eminent personalities from different walks of the society tour various Puja pandals and select the four best Puja organizers. The criteria is simple, safety measures taken by the organizers ; keeping the aesthetic beauty and sizzling lighting and innovation of ideas coupled with volunteer response to ensure that revelers are not put at risk inside and in and around the pandal structure.
There are about 1100 Puja organizers in Kolkata and surrounding areas and Kolkata Police makes a shortlist of 60 puja pandals. A panel of judges comprising of IAS, IPS, High Court Judges, Union Ministers, and celebrities tour the pandals and mark them on the basis of safety measures and aesthetic beauty. The panel of judges divided into five groups and each group has three judges to tour six pandal structures.
The top four pandals are awarded cash prizes as incentives. The prize money offered by Impact is the highest in the city.
Impact Puja safety programmes have had stupendous success. So much so that the numbers of incidents of fire have come down drastically over the years. The then Foreign Minister Late Pranab Mukherjee, Union Ministers, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Subodh Kant Sahai, N N Meena, the then Parliamentary Affairs Minister Late Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Former Union Minister Satyabrata Mukherjee, Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen. V K Singh, Minister of State for Home, Hansraj Ahir were among others who had graced the occasion to give away the prizes over the years.
Buoyed by success, Impact started the hearse and ambulance services for the poor. The vehicles, which are all donated by well wishers, are parked at State Government Hospitals like SSKM Hospital and Sambhu Nath Pandit Hospital and they ferry patients and dead bodies; either free of cost or at nominal charge. The ambulances have so far carried 15,000 patients while the hearse have ferried 6000 dead bodies. Impact intends to have more such ambulances and hearses in other city hospitals.
Impact has also renovated the mother and child care at Mohananda Hospital in Behala, ran about 1000 free medical camps for the poor across Kolkata and other areas in the State.
Impact in association with Narcotics Control Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs had organized about 250 Anti Drug and Anti Aids awareness programmes, seminars and conferences in slums, prominent schools and affected areas of Kolkata and rest of the State.