Kolkata Municipal Corporation

2500 plus community pujas. Lakhs of revellers. The Durga Puja celebrations in Kolkata are magical, but harsh and unforgiving on the environment. Unfortunately, thoughts and plans on greening the celebrations appear to be at a very immature stage still.

In Kolkata’s Dhapa and other neighbouring municipalities, open landfills lie filled to the brim with unsegregated waste. Biomedical waste disposal too does not uniformly conform to the rules formulated. A lax administration merely looks on and introduces token measures in select pockets.

A recent survey among over 2000 foodies in India has named Kolkata the best city for mouth-watering street food. While there is definitely no question mark over the taste, what about safety? Are there good stalls and bad stalls? Amrita Mukherjee studies the scenario up close.