The Maidan looked cleaner on Friday compared to the last couple of days, with the Public Works Department (PWD) deploying nearly double the number of men who would usually clean the largest patch of Calcutta’s greenery.

Senior PWD officials said around 10 men were pressed into action for the clean-up drive, two days after the Christmas crowd left the greens littered with filth and garbage.

The filth remained in a few pockets of the Maidan on Friday.

Metro reported on Friday how portions of the Maidan were covered with garbage after the Christmas Day revelry despite a cleaning drive.

Friday’s cleaning drive began around 8am and continued for over three hours with workers — deployed by the PWD — scouring the expanse bounded by Casuarina Avenue and Queen’s Way on the west and south, respectively.

A PWD worker said Friday’s drive was conducted with an expanded team of 10 men.

“It would take some more days to clean the Maidan completely. This time, we are working with an expanded team of ten workers. Usually, we work with a team of six, as the ground is much dirtier this year, we had to increase the manpower,” said the worker.

“Every year we see this condition after the festive season. This year, we found the Maidan a bit dirtier. We lost the count of the bags we had collected on Friday,” he said.

Styrofoam plates, cups, plastic bottles, gutkha packets, wrappers and empty food packets were left behind on the Maidan by several hundred who turned up to bask in the Christmas sun since afternoon.

Metro reported how just a part of the Maidan along Casurina Avenue was cleaned up on Thursday, leaving the remaining part littered with filth.

While the army is the custodian of Maidan, PWD is responsible for its upkeep. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation provides garbage bins and waste disposal vats.

The cleanup left a few visitors to Maidan somewhat happy. Others wanted it a bit more cleaner and greener.

“There aren’t too many green zones left in this city. The Maidan needs proper maintenance and it was good to see people cleaning it since morning,” said Arnab Sen, a resident of Behala.

A few others felt the Maidan needed to be cleaner.

“We noticed some men picking up garbage. But isn’t the Maidan supposed to remain clean? Where else do we go to spend some time during the vacation with our kids?” asked Provati Debri, a 46-year-old woman from Baguiati, who was at Maidan with her 10-year-old son.

PWD officials said the drive would continue throughout the festive season.