Imagine walking down a ghat after sunset, only to find it engulfed in darkness. The slimy steps are slippery, litter strewn around and the silence feels more eerie than peaceful.
For those who live and work along the Hooghly — hawkers, barbers, boatmen — this isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s a daily reality. Lack of proper lighting, poor maintenance and pollution have long plagued Kolkata’s ghats. Instead of being grateful for these public spaces lining the city that are aesthetic and accessible at the same time, we have let them slip into neglect and desolation.
Kult X is collaborating with the Living Waters Museum (LWM) and Sea Explorers Institute (SEI) to remedy this, with the River Ambassador Project. This initiative seeks to transform the ghats into cleaner, greener, and more vibrant public spaces by actively involving those who rely on them for their livelihood. Launched at Champatala Ghat on February 18, this project aims to empower locals to drive change in key areas like cleanliness and safety. My Kolkata was present at the inauguration.
Cleanliness and the lack of lighting remain major concerns for the hawkers at ghats
The project has kicked off with 13 ambassadors, including tea-sellers, cleaners and a barber, who will undergo training in the history of the Hooghly, sustainability practices and life-saving techniques. To compensate these individuals for the earnings they are sacrificing under this programme, Kult X will ensure a stipend of Rs 100 per hour of training. The funds for this initiative were raised through a ticketed concert featuring Bengali urban folk music band Bhoomi, at the River Festival earlier this year.
The ambassadors have already made their voices heard. “Old people find it especially hard to climb down the stairs owing to the absence of adequate lighting. Even the dustbin is not visible in the dark,” said Pradip Das, who has been selling tea on the riverbank since 1982. Manish Mallick, who provides the beloved ghoti gorom (snack) to visitors at the ghat, added: “Most locals can’t swim and yet, they tend to venture dangerously close to the river. We’ve even lost lives to this. So this initiative will ensure that us hawkers can actually save them in case of an emergency.”
The River Ambassador Project aims to use a bottom-up approach, maintaining the ghats by incentivising the locals who depend on it for their livelihood
“While working on the River Festival last year, we realised that as outsiders, merely going to the ghat and dictating how things should be, won’t cut it. We needed to involve the local people, who take care of it every day,” said Laily Thompson, founder of Kult X.
The bottom-up approach is ensuring that the community is suggesting actionable steps to create more accessible ghats. The hawkers at Champatala Ghat suggested using buckets for waste collection. The complaint over the lack of adequate lighting has led to a formal request to Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port and the Calcutta Illuminations Project for intervention.
“We’re also training our ambassadors on how they can save lives in case of maritime disaster,” said Nilendra Sarkar, secretary of SEI. Sukrit Sen, head of LWM’s Kolkata chapter added: “Merely cleaning the ghats won’t be enough. We need to inform the locals about its stories.”
The renovation of Champatala Ghat has also been a significant achievement under this initiative, demonstrating how public-private collaboration can lead to meaningful urban renewal. This project goes beyond just cleanliness; it is about restoring the historic and cultural significance of these spaces.
Over the next three years, the project will train 100 river ambassadors, equipping them with skills in environmental stewardship, waste management and disaster preparedness.
By training those who are most connected to the ghats, the River Ambassador Project hopes to ensure that preservation efforts are not just a top-down initiative but a grassroots movement driven by the very people who depend on these spaces every day.