The Hooghly River has got a breather this year with the Kolkata Port Trust deciding to fish out pollution-causing painted idols of Durga which were immersed in the river after the Puja festivities. Immersion of idols started on Sunday and continued till Tuesday. The idols, some weighing a few tonnes, contain harmful colours and other material which contaminate the river and affect fish and humans. The idols were fished out after immersion by the Kolkata Port Trust and carted by trucks to dumping grounds by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Subhas Dutta, an environmentalist, who had moved a PIL earlier on pollution arising out of immersion of idols in the river said, though the Calcutta High Court had passed an order in 2007 in this regard, but the work started in real earnest this year only after the Durga Pujas.