On a bright Sunday morning (March 8) some 50 volunteers gathered at the feet of the Raja Rammohan Roy statue at Kolkata Maidan. Most of them college students, the mission at hand was cleaning up Kolkata — one spot at a time. The driving force behind the clean up campaign was Cleanup Kolkata, a social community who were fed up with all the waste openly lying around in the city.
Members were briefed about how to go about the campaign, with teams dispersing all throughout the Maidan.
Rounak Ghosh, a student and a resident of Dumdum, said, “The whole movement started in 2025, and it was mostly out of irritation,” said Ghosh. “The Clean Up Kolkata team came about around November last year. Every beautiful place I visit in the city that is open to the public is filthy.”. Initially the brain child of Ghosh, the movement found traction with a lot of strangers and students joining hands.
Clean Up Kolkata started as an Instagram community post. Though there was no immediate revolution, slowly, members for the cause trickled in. Beginning with 20 members, the group now boasts of over 100 members.
The goal for the group is sustaining this movement. Cleaning up is not a one-time solution to the rampant litter culture in Kolkata. Rather than being a one-time activity, this community advocates cleaning up your locality regularly.
Clean Up Kolkata has previously cleaned Ahiritola Ghat, and other north Kolkata ghats.
Tarak Singh, Mayor in council for Kolkata Municipal Corporation, said, “I praise all those who are cleaning up the city. We may have failed, but they are showing us the way. It is high time we learn from them and keep our city clean.”
