Kolkata’s Green Puja campaign has expanded its focus beyond environmentally responsible Durga Puja celebrations to promoting cleaner and greener neighbourhoods throughout the year. The initiative, themed “Green Puja to Green Para”, was launched on Monday at the headquarters of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board.
West Bengal Environment and Forest Minister Manoj Kumar Oraon inaugurated the programme. Organisers said the campaign will encourage puja committees to adopt environmentally responsible practices and extend those efforts into the wider communities around them.
The Green Puja Award was started by environmental organisation EnGIO in 2007. According to the organisers, it is among India’s oldest initiatives aimed at encouraging environment-friendly activities during community festivals. Its stated objective has been to make puja committees more aware of cleanliness and environmental conservation.
The expanded campaign will focus on waste segregation, recycling and pollution control. Organisers also plan to encourage puja committees to use environmentally friendly materials, reduce waste, conserve energy and limit noise pollution during the festival.
Speaking at the launch, Oraon said puja committees should play an inspirational role in environmental conservation. The stated aim is to continue work towards clean and green neighbourhoods after the festival ends, rather than limit environmental action to the duration of the celebrations.
EnGIO organiser Sujata Basu also stressed the need for waste segregation, recycling and pollution-control activities to continue throughout the year. The emphasis places local puja committees at the centre of a proposed neighbourhood-level environmental effort, using existing community networks to promote cleaner practices beyond festival venues.
The Indian Plastic Federation will support the campaign through its “Know Your Plastic Waste” initiative. The federation plans to raise awareness about the correct management of plastic waste and highlight the possibility of generating income through recycling. Its president, Amit Agarwal, said the campaign would draw attention to the economic potential of recycling plastic waste.
The announcement links three urban concerns that become particularly visible during large public celebrations: the volume of waste generated, the difficulty of separating recyclable material and the management of noise and other forms of pollution. However, the organisers’ announcement did not specify the number of participating puja committees, collection arrangements, recycling targets or timelines for measuring results.
For Kolkata’s neighbourhoods, the proposed shift matters because puja committees often operate as established community institutions with influence extending beyond the festival itself. The campaign’s success will therefore depend on whether awareness activities are matched by practical systems for segregation, collection, recycling and enforcement of pollution-control measures.
The organisers said the objective is to connect Durga Puja with a sustained public movement for environmental conservation. Further implementation details, including the participating committees and the operational framework for extending the programme across neighbourhoods, were not provided in the announcement.
