Calcutta: Seven days, seven districts, four sailors and a boat made primarily of leaves.

A 39ft-long boat made of hogla leaves arrived at Howrah's Ramakrishnapur ghat last Saturday after negotiating 169 ghats since its flag-off from Murshidabad on November 4.

"This would be the first time a boat has been made with hogla leaves in India," said Aseem Mandal, one of the sailors who is an instructor of the national and state disaster relief forces and an adventure sports instructor at places such as Eco Park.

The quartet had made the boat with hogla leaves, bamboo and rope to revive the plant's popularity.

"Its stems would be eaten by the Inca, existed during the Indus Valley civilisation and the Aryans used it as a floating device to transport goods by water. Today it is used to make mats and as a shelter at disaster relief sites," said Mandal.

But it's during their journey that the sailors realised the most important use of hogla: its roots cling to the soil and prevent erosion. "We faced death at every turn of the river as the weak embankments have swept away the hutments on the shore. If any of them hit us, our boat would have been torn to bits," he said.

The expedition was on a mission to save Ganga but the team was disappointed by what they saw.

"We saw 342 animal carcasses floating. Dumping in the river seems to be the easiest form of disposal," said Puspen Samanta, another sailor and a swimming teacher at a Santragachhi centre. "There is plastic all around," he added.

Also part of the group was Biswajit Mondal, an adventure sports in-charge at Country Roads resort in Howrah, and Bishal Goyala, a Class X student.