Mission clean Versova: Wasted effort

From an overwhelming outpouring of support from Mumbaikars and celebrities to being called for a meeting by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a lot has happened since Sunday — after Versova-based lawyer Afroz Shah, brainchild of the clean up drive at Versova Beach, took to social media to criticise the "administrative lethargy" and shocked everyone by announcing the suspension of the clean up drive which has been going on for the past 109 weeks.

The 33-year-old, who has spearheaded the world's largest community beach clean up drive recognised not only by the United Nations (UN) but also Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claimed that his tweet on November 19 was not a knee-jerk reaction but a result of being pushed to the brink.

However, the volunteers who join Shah to clean Versova Beach are optimistic about positives emerging from the controversy — not only that the citizen's movement will now end up becoming stronger but it also highlights the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) apathy towards a citizen initiative.

The Controversy

While it was clear from Shah's tweet that "volunteers being abused", "administrative lethargy" and "nonclearance of picked up garbage" were the main reasons for announcing the suspension, Shah reveals that they have been facing the issues for some months now.

"Even on Sunday as we set out for beach cleaning, the JCB driver and a few labourers complained about being heckled again and a goon even tried to hit one of them with a bamboo stick. We found these men on the beach and they abused us for cleaning the beach so early in the morning and even threatened us to stop," said Shah, adding that he was pained on seeing the volunteers being targeted and alerted the police as well.

Despite like-minded people putting in so much effort, it was a disturbing moment for Shah as it was not only such goons posing a hurdle to the drive but also BMC which had stopped clearing the collected garbage for almost five months. "All these issues had been piling up for a long time and on Sunday I guess they got the better of me as I felt that it was a personal failure, hence decided to tweet. My intention was never to blame anyone but it was the sheer frustration of seeing the lack of support for such a noble cause," explained Shah.

Civic Body Of Apathy

Rohan Kotwalkar, a Versova resident who has been a regular volunteer, shared that Shah's tweet did not surprise him. "The K/West Ward office of BMC stopped clearing the garbage picked up by volunteers all of a sudden from June this year and the place near Versova jetty where we used to collect the garbage became like a mini-dumping ground. It was regularly brought to BMC's notice but they simply neglected it citing different reasons," said Kotwalkar, adding that it was a mystery why K/West ward had changed its attitude towards the drive, which they once supported wholeheartedly.

Volunteers also rubbished BMC's claims that it was the huge quantity of sand sticking to the garbage which was making it difficult for them to pick up the waste. "We have many videos to prove that all the volunteers ensure that the sand is removed from the trash collected. In fact, even if this was an issue, why did the BMC officials not tell us about it as a solution could have been worked out on the spot," said Goregaon-based Ranveer Kashyap, another volunteer.

Several volunteers also claimed noticing the K/West ward office's gradual but evident disinterest towards the clean up drive. "It's hard to pinpoint the reason but ever since new officials took over the K/West ward office, we have felt a sudden withdrawal from the campaign. We have been trying our best to work along with the BMC. In fact we are doing what the BMC is supposed to be doing in the first place but their attitude has been discouraging," shared a volunteer. The volunteer also noted that if BMC indeed had genuine issues due to which the civic body was not clearing the garbage, then why did they begin clearing it soon after Shah's tweet.

However, under fire from all quarters including the top brass of BMC, officials from K/West ward maintained that they were totally supporting the initiative and would continue doing so. "There were some minor issues related to transport of the garbage picked up but that was resolved and most of it has been cleared. We will hold a meeting with Shah and his team and ensure that a plan is worked out to make the waste pick up process smoother," said an official requesting anonymity.

Support For Afroz Shah

Shah's tweet soon gathered storm, receiving close to 2,000 retweets and 400 replies by Thursday. River March founder Gopal Jhaveri shared his own experience with BMC officials, saying that the civic body had similarly withdrawn support after members of the group decided to initiate a five Sunday clean up of the mouth of Poisar river in April. "BMC officials came the first Sunday after which they disappeared citing vague excuses and it was because of them that we could not achieve the removal of tonnes of plastic that must have entered the creek during the rains. On the one hand, our prime minister talks about the role of citizens in Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan and on the other, BMC does not even bother joining hands with citizens' groups," said Jhaveri.

Interestingly, several BMC officials were quick to come out on in Shah's support following his tweet. A senior BMC official, who was earlier deployed in the K/West ward and took a keen interest in the clean up, said that Shah and his team of volunteers have been doing a remarkable job and never went about simply blaming the BMC for failing to clean the beach. "They took it upon themselves to change the situation and proved it in just two years. I am not aware of what happened in the last five months but I am sure that this citizen's movement is the need of the hour and if there was any communication gap between the BMC and the group, it needs to be resolved and the good work should continue," said the official, on the condition of anonymity.

An Assistant Municipal Commissioner, who has a beach in his own jurisdiction, said that he was planning on having a meeting with Shah and his team to help him come up with a similar clean up drive on the beach which was known to be extremely dirty. "We know our own limitations and hence it's always good to work with such passionate citizens groups and bring about change," he said.

The Way Ahead

Members of Versova Residents Volunteers (VRV) claim that while they have devised a system for cleaning the beach, it was the BMC which needed to understand its role and fit in the wheel so that it can facilitate the activity.

"It has been almost two years and the BMC has not yet appointed contractors for cleaning the beach. We have hired labourers, JCB and tractors for the clean up, hence there was an urgent need for setting up a contract. We even agreed to help the BMC set up terms and conditions for the contract and monitor their work," said a volunteer, adding that they need help from the civic body in terms of machinery till the contract is in place.

Citizen revolution in the making

As the Versova beach clean up drive enters its 110th week, the volunteers have, to date, removed around seven million kilogram of garbage from the beach.

Moved by the beach's filthy condition in October 2015, Afroz Shah along with one of his neighbours Harbansh Mathur, set out to clean it. Unperturbed by few numbers at the beginning, Shah continued with his drive every weekend. Within a few weeks, more people joined and the movement began picking pace and Versova Residents Volunteers (VRV) was formed.

Even before local authorities could recognise their work, the United Nations (UN) took notice. "The first major success came in August when Lewis Pugh, UN Patron of the Oceans, joined us. A month later, Head of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Erik Solheim joined us. That's when the entire world woke up to the revolution that was taking place in Versova," said Naresh Suri, an actor based in Versova and a VRV volunteer. It was soon termed the largest community clean up drive in the world and in December 2016, the UN presented Shah with the Champions of the Earth award.

By March 2017, five lakh kg of garbage was removed. In May 2017 Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauded Shah's work in his radio talk Mann Ki Baat.

STORY SO FAR

October 2015
Two Versova-based residents including Afroz Shah kick off Versova beach clean up

August 2016
Lewis Pugh, UN Patron of the Oceans, joins the beach clean up drive

September 2016
Erik Solheim, head, UNEP, visits Mumbai and helps clean up the beach

December 2016
Afroz Shah becomes first Indian to win UNEP's Champions of the Earth award

May 2017
Addressing the nation in his weekly radio programme, Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciates Shah's work

August 2017
Amitabh Bachchan joins Shah and the volunteers in cleaning the beach

September 2017
The citizen-driven Versova beach clean up initiative completes 100 weeks; Amitabh Bachchan gifts the team a tractor and an
excavator to aid their work further

November 19, 2017
Shah takes to Twitter to voice his angst against the BMC for not picking up the garbage collected from the beach; goons harassing him and his volunteers; and announces the suspension of the clean up drive

November 22, 2017
Shah and his volunteers meet Aaditya Thackeray who organised a meeting with the Mayor, where they assured them their full support

November 23, 2017
Shah along with his volunteers meets Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who assures the backing of the entire State and promises to join them for the beach clean up next week

November 24, 2017
Shah decided that the Versova beach clean up will remain suspended till BMC puts in place robust mechanism on ground

WHAT IS MARINE LITTER?

• Any manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment.
   
• Consists of items that have been made or used by people and deliberately discarded into the sea, rivers or on beaches; or brought indirectly to the sea via rivers, sewage, storm water or winds; or accidentally lost, including material lost at sea in bad weather.
   
• Consistent growth in the amount of solid waste thrown, combined with the slow rate of degradation of most of these items, are leading to a gradual rise in marine litter.
   
• Marine litter is an economic, environmental, human health and aesthetic problem posing a complex and multi-dimensional challenge.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme

HOW THE BEACH IS CLEANED

• The clean up drive begins at 7 am every Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers gather, gear up and begin collecting garbage from the beach.
   
• Not only is garbage such as rags, plastic and other waste material collected from the surface of the beach, but the volunteers also dig into the sand to collect stuck trash.
   
• The collected garbage is then transferred using JCB excavators and tractors, hired from All India Plastic Manufacturers Association (AIPMA), by around 10 labourers to a site close to the Versova jetty.
   
• The BMC then collects this deposited garbage to process it further. The civic body was collecting it until June however they stopped doing so which resulted in a mini-dumping ground like situation at the site which irked volunteers.