This World Environment Day, the members of Versova Resident Volunteers (VRV) who have been running a citizen-led campaign — Clean Up Versova Rock Beach — have taken up a challenge to clear 1 lakh kg of trash from Versova beach. What makes this beach clean-up mission even more significant is the fact that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has joined hands with VRV to take up this drive as a pilot project and, if successful, it will be implemented on a daily long-term basis to keep the beach clean.
"With the onset of the monsoon, the sea has already begun churning and huge quantities of garbage are being thrown back on the beach. Since this Sunday is World Environment Day, we have decided to spend Saturday as well as Sunday trying to clean the beach of all the garbage that has piled up. Trying to protect the environment is the best way to celebrate the day," said film-maker and Juhu resident Neerav Ghosh, who has been a regular part of this initiative.
In fact, seeing the quantity of trash that has already begun being deposited on the beach and keeping in mind that the situation will only get worse in the coming months with the onset of the monsoon, the members of VRV have gone into planning mode and even held discussions with assistant municipal commissioner of K/West ward Parag Masurkar to ensure that the beach is cleaned regularly this monsoon.
"The BMC has assured full support and will equip us with four dumpers, two tractor trolleys, one JCB and 80 workers on Saturday as well as for the mega clean-up activity on Sunday. In fact, we are trying to get as many locals to join in as possible as this is not only a huge challenge but also a responsibility for all those who live here," said Bombay High Court lawyer and Versova resident Afroz Shah, who added that VRV, apart from putting up banners encouraging people to join the campaign, has even sent letters to the residents in all the beach-facing buildings across Versova.
"Under this citizens initiative, we have been cleaning this beach for 33 weeks now and have cleared over 1.42 lakh kg of garbage. We only want this clean-up drive to be more vigorous during the monsoon and hence are working on a strategy along with the BMC to clean the beach daily for the next few months with the help of BMC machinery and VRV's supervision," Shah said.
(To be a part of the clean-up drive at Versova beach on June 4 and 5, join in from 7am to 7pm near the entrance of Beach Classic building, Versova beach)
Mumbai, which is blessed with a string of beaches starting from the south — such as Girgaum, Dadar, Mahim, JuhuVersova, Madh, Aksa Gorai and Uttan — sees regular mechanical cleaning done by the BMC at Girgaum and Juhu, which ensures that these two beaches look better than the others. However, the situation in the rest of the beaches, some of which see manual cleaning carried out, is quite pathetic. Also, a detailed five-month analysis of waste done on eight beaches of Mumbai, carried out by NGO ReefWatch Marine Conservation, showed that Juhu, Versova and Aksa were the dirtiest beaches.
