Art of Living Volunteers Launch Mega Cleanup Drive to Revive Kolkata’s Historic Adi Ganga

Kolkata: In a major push to rescue Kolkata’s ancient, long-neglected waterway, more than 230 volunteers from the Art of Living foundation launched a comprehensive cleanliness and ecological awareness campaign on the banks of the Adi Ganga river to mark World Environment Day.

The three-day community-led drive, organised in collaboration with West Bengal’s departments of Environment, Urban Development, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), and the State Mission for Clean Ganga (Namami Gange), successfully removed over 200 kilograms of waste from the choked banks of the river at Sadar Ghat near the historic Kalighat Temple.

Practical Steps to Protect the Sacred Waters

The historic trade route has suffered from decades of pollution and municipal neglect. The eco-drive combined immediate physical cleanup with long-term waste-management solutions for local religious sites.

Waste Management Support: Volunteers gifted over 50 large dustbins to temples located along the riverbanks. 

The initiative encourages a sustainable transition in religious offerings, ensuring that flowers and ritual materials return to the earth as compost rather than being discarded into the fragile water system.

To breathe new life into the degraded shores and prevent soil erosion, volunteers planted more than 500 saplings along the river’s edge.

Working on the weekend, youth leaders and students physically removed over 200 kg of plastic, clothing, and non-biodegradable debris clogging the riverbed.

A Joint Effort for Local Restoration

The campaign commenced with a flag-off by Kolkata Municipal Commissioner Smita Pandey, who emphasised that sustained community action is the key to nursing the ancient waterway back to health. 

Local officials and ministers also inspected the drive, noting that the central government has allocated Rs 630 crore under the Namami Gange project specifically to evaluate effluent points and implement sewage treatment infrastructure for the Adi Ganga.

The environmental drive culminated in a traditional Adi Ganga Puja and public Ganga Aarti at Sadar Ghat on Sunday evening, highlighting the cultural and spiritual heritage while reinforcing a collective pledge to keep its waters clean.

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