Kolkata civic body, port trust jointly cleaning up Ganga

KOLKATA - The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) have joined hands to prevent pollution of the Ganga river from pith and flowers during immersion of Durga idols, officials said Monday.

After four days of merriment came to an end on Bijoya Dashami Sunday, long queues formed up at the ghats for the immersion of idols of Durga and her four children.

To prevent pollution, KMC set up mini waste bins around the seven ghats in the city for flowers and has engaged personnel to remove the disintegrating idols from the water soon after their immersion.

“A mini waste bin has been set up at every ghat of river Ganga in Kolkata. The puja organisers have been requested to use those waste bins for dropping flowers and piths,” said KMC mayor-in-council member (Parks and Squares) Debasish Kumar.

The KMC has also engaged more than 350 personnel to remove the idols of goddess Durga from the river within 24 hrs of immersion, he said, adding that as Tuesday was the deadline for immersion of idols, the clean-up job would continue till Wednesday.

For the first time, the Kolkata Port Trust has joined the KMC in cleaning the river.

The port trust has engaged a private river transporter to cordon off sections of the river around two of the major immersion ghats.

According to a port trust spokesperson, personnel have been deployed on the ghats to keep vigil and to trap any idol or structures if it flows down.

The expenses for the clean up will be borne jointly by the municipal corporation and the port trust, the spokesperson added.