On an ordinary Saturday morning Mumbaikars actually put aside all the other works and took the pain of doing something more meaningful and significant – collecting trash from Versova beach.
The initiative involved UN representatives, including the United Nations Environment Programme-appointed ‘Patron of the Oceans’, Lewis, Versova Residents Volunteers (VRV), Students from the Whistling Woods International Film and Television Institute, lawyers from the Andheri Bar Association, members of the Koli Samaj (local fishing community) and representatives of the All India Plastic Manufacturers Association.
The trash was moved to the Deonar dumping ground.
Cleaning on the the 2.5 km beach beach has yielded almost 2 million kgs of trash – in 43 weeks.
“We saw that the enthusiasm of the citizens is infectious. We had almost 500 people on Saturday and it is clear that the drive is gaining momentum,” Afroz Shah, lawyer and founder, VRV told Hindustan Times.
The United Nations Patron of Oceans Lewis Pugh and his team had announced plans to visit the beach, which he says is the “biggest beach clean-up in history”.
The Versova beach clean-up began as a dream by two local residents, a lawyer Afroz Shah and another enthusiast, last year. An active mission, the Versova Resident Volunteers (VRV) roped in civic administration to help with machines and tractors, man power to clear the beach of piles of plastic and filth. Working weekends, the group rid the beach of over 1 million kilograms of litter.
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Sourced from India Times, Featured image courtesy: www.indiatimes.com
