Brigade returns to order quickly, cleaner-than-usual ground surprises KMC workers
Telegraph | 11 May 2026
The sprawling Brigade Parade Grounds appeared noticeably cleaner on Sunday than they usually do after large political gatherings.
A large team of cleaners from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation worked across the ground collecting waste. Paper packets, paper cups, scraps of cloth used to tie bamboo poles and plastic packets were among the items being cleared.
About 50 cleaners were working on Sunday afternoon when Metro visited the grounds.
On Saturday, Bengal’s ninth chief minister, Suvendu Adhikari, took oath in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. Five BJP MLAs were also sworn in as ministers during the ceremony at Brigade.
A contractual worker of KMC, engaged in cleaning the sprawling ground, said the venue was not “very dirty”. “The ground was cleaner than what we see on the morning after a large political gathering. Still, there was some waste on the ground that we cleaned,” said the man.
“We started the cleaning at 11am,” said another worker.
“Usually, after political meetings, we have to spend long hours collecting garbage from different corners of the ground. This time, the area was cleaner,” he said.
Besides the men, the KMC had also deployed mini pick-up vans to transport the waste from the ground.
A civic employee said workers were deployed not only across the ground but also along the surrounding roads — Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Queens Way, Casuarina Avenue and Outram Road.
“The wind often blows lighter waste onto adjoining roads and open spaces. We had to deploy workers in those areas as well,” a source said.
When this newspaper visited Brigade on Sunday afternoon, workers and trucks were seen removing plywood structures used to build the stage for Saturday’s programme. Iron poles that had been used to build the hangars were also found scattered across parts of the ground as workers loaded them onto trucks.
Long bamboo poles lay stacked in rows while workers loaded them onto trucks parked near the ground.
Avijit Thakur, who was contracted to build the stage, said the structure had been erected overnight ahead of the event despite rain before the programme.
“We have deployed about 35 people today to dismantle the dais and load the materials onto trucks,” he said.
Thakur added that they had been instructed to clear the venue within a day after the programme. “We had instructions from the government that the venue needs to be cleared within a day of the swearing-in,” he said.
The KMC will carry out a mop-up cleaning of the ground on Monday morning.
“Since portions of the hangars were still there on Sunday afternoon, we could not access some areas. We will conduct a mop-up cleaning on Monday,” said a source in the state government.