110kg trash scooped out of sea off Versova in 3 days: Afroz Shah

In a first of its kind attempt to try and figure out the type of waste polluting the seabed near Versova — as well as fish it out — three divers from Konkan region have been called to Mumbai. They dove 15 to 20 metre deep into the water, about half a kilometre from the beach, to collect the garbage.

This is another initiative by Versova-based lawyer Afroz Shah, who has been spearheading the Versova beach clean-up since October 2015. Shah said that they contacted Maharashtra State Mangrove Cell to rope in the divers, and within three days they managed to collect around 110 kg of garbage.

"We began this pilot excercise on May 24 and will continue it for a week. During the planning meeting, we decided to bring in three divers from Konkan region who are trained for deep diving and are involved in the eco-tourism activity. We planned this before the monsoon so that we could successfully carry out this work," Shah said.

On day one, the divers collected around 70 kg, followed by 20-30 kg next. "Most of the garbage collected was plastic in various forms — plastic packets, PET bottles and abandoned nets. They went 500 metre off the coast and around 20 metre deep inside the water," Shah said.

Shah said he has been thinking of various ways to create awareness about cleaning the beach and banning plastic.

Shah said, "Over the last six months, I planned four different stages to create awareness among citizens. After the beach clean-up initiative, we trained the people living near the ocean about plastic waste management. Later we trained children from various schools. We wanted to go deep into the ocean to see what kind of garbage is clogging the sea."