Kolkata: In a major push to revitalize the city’s urban landscape ahead of International Day of Yoga, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced a massive, five-day mega cleanliness drive across Kolkata. The campaign aims to welcome Prime Minister Modi with a revitalised, pristine city, while addressing long-standing civic and environmental challenges. A target has been set to remove 5,796 tonnes of solid waste in five days.
“A city is known by its cleanliness, its heritage buildings, its architectural glory, its roads, and its green, environment-friendly ecosystem,” CM Adhikari said. “We want to welcome the prime minister with swachhata (cleanliness). It is an opportunity to showcase a cleaner and greener Kolkata to the world.”
The ambitious initiative, structured by the urban development and municipal affairs department and executed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), will run from June 16 to June 20. KMC administrator Smita Pandey detailed a rigorous “micro-plan” for the drive, issuing an appeal for shramdaan (voluntary labour) from local citizens, schools, and commercial associations.
According to the plan of action, the drive will include intensive cleaning across major landmarks, including Kalighat temple, Parasnath temple, ISKCON temple, gurdwara (Bhowanipore) and Nakhoda Masjid. The mega drive will also include markets like Lake Market, Lansdowne market, Gariahat market and transport hubs like Sealdah railway station and Esplanade bus terminus. Waste removal from several major ghats along the Hooghly that include Princep Ghat, Gwalior Ghat and Babughat has also been included in the plan.
The Chief Minister announced that he will personally join the cleanup on two of the days, focusing heavily on the city’s lifelines. “I will personally take part in the cleanliness programme — one along the bank of Ma Ganga and the other along the bank of Adi Ganga in Bhowanipore,” Adhikari stated.
The 6.5-kilometer stretch of the Adi Ganga, along with a 500-meter irrigation channel, will receive intense desiltation. Taking a swipe at the previous administration, the CM highlighted critical infrastructural gaps regarding the historic river.
“Under the Namami Gange projects, the Adi Ganga needs many more sewage treatment plants to stop sewage from pumping into the river,” Adhikari said. “The previous government did not allocate land for these STPs. We are now working urgently to organize land for these vital facilities.”
He reminded citizens of Kolkata’s natural abundance compared to neighboring states. “We are blessed with plenty of water in the Ganga—something you will not find to this extent in Bihar or UP. We must value and preserve it. The ghats must be cleaned, and we must stop dumping effluent into the holy river.”
Invoking the legacy of Bengal’s greatest icons, the CM called upon the pride of Kolkata’s citizens to sustain this initiative beyond the Prime Minister’s visit.
“Kolkata is the birthplace or workplace of giants like Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, and Syama Prasad Mookerjee,” Adhikari remarked, noting that city roads historically used to be washed down with water. “This is the cultural capital of the country, home to so many educated people. The city needs to look and feel clean. It deserves to reclaim its glory.”
