by Elton Gomes
When Indranil Sengupta and Rabia Tewari shifted to a sea facing flat in Mahim, they had hoped that their walks by the sea would be something to look forward to. However, they soon found out that garbage was often piled up on the sea shore, sometimes as high as to four or five feet.
Hoping that the BMC would take care of this ever-increasing pile of garbage, the couple often contacted the civic body, but to no avail. That is when the couple decided to take matters into their own hands, and began cleaning the stretch from Mahim Dargah Lane to Hinduja Hospital every weekend from 8 am to 10 am. In May 2018, they had reached the 35th week of the Mahim Beach Clean-up, and had managed to collect nearly 500 tonnes of garbage.
Speaking to the Hindu, the couple opine that although they are happy with the progress, a lot of work still remains to be done. When asked if they get any help from the BMC, Rabia Tewari said, “The BMC has hired one contractor for the entire stretch of beach from Mahim to Prabhadevi. The contractor has 16 to 19 people and one excavator for such a large area. But we have never seen these people at work. We spotted four to five of them cleaning up the stretch weve been working on; the other parts are ignored,” as per the Hindu.
Indranil Sengupta, however, remains confident of their work, even though some time locals may disrupt the cleanliness. Talking about the changes visible in the area, Sengupta told the Hindu: “There is visible difference from the first week itself, but this can be sustained only if bigger steps are taken. At times, we see people from the Koli village throwing garbage, defecating and swimming all in the same water.”
On August 6, the Times of India reported that students from grade 7 to 10 of the MET Rishikul Vidyalaya (MRV) would be joining Sengupta and Tewari to help them in their cleanup efforts. This was the first part of the school’s social integration programme. A group of 40 students along with the school’s director, some teachers, and staff came together to clean the Mahim Beach stretch from Hinduja Hospital all the way up to Mahim Dargah.
Piles of garbage seem to have become a common site around Mumbai’s beaches, and several people made efforts to clean up this mess. Mumbai recently made headlines for the wrong reasons as the sea returned roughly 2,15,000 kg of trash and cluttered the entire Marine Drive. Sengupta and Tewari’s work has been instrumental in spreading awareness and urging people to clean the beaches themselves. Here are some examples when Mumbaikars have led clean-up drives.
Versova Beach
As the founder of Versova Residents’ Volunteers (VRV), Afroz Shah, told Huffington Post India that residents and municipal workers combined managed to collect approximately 24,000 kg garbage from the beach. The clean-up was in its 48th consecutive week in September 2016.
After the city revelled in Ganpati celebrations, the beach was littered with idols, plastic bags, and a lot of unwanted stuff. VRV volunteers and BMC workers transferred 2.9 million kg of garbage from the beach to the dumping grounds in a span of one year.
“I can see the beach from my balcony and all I could see before was plastic. I would go to the beach and again, see only plastic. It was a horrendous sight. So, I wondered what could be done. Should I complain? Then I decided to do something by myself. I along with another person, Mr. Mathur who has passed away now, decided to start cleaning the beach. It all started with two people,” Shah told Huffington Post India.
Citizens initiate Juhu beach clean-up
Inspired by the success of the VRV in cleaning the Versova beach, residents in Juhu stepped up to rid the iconic Juhu beach of garbage. More than 50 volunteers between the ages of 20 to 63 took part in the clean-up drive that took place in June 2017.
Mehjabeen Barwani, member of Juhu Welfare Beach Committee, said, Since Juhu beach comes under three different corporators, we have involved them too. Soon, school students, community members, and residents staying in the vicinity will also be involved, as reported by DNA.
In June 2018, citizens and the BMC got together again to evict garbage from Juhu beach. The initiative managed to gather around 1,800 tonnes of garbage within three days. Citizens are of the opinion that garbage collects on the beach after it is released from the surrounding nullahs. They feel that the issue is one that needs to be trated with urgency and immediacy.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius