Lewis Pugh in 2010 swam across a glacial lake on Mt Everest to draw attention to the melting glaciers in the Himalayas and its impact.
Guess who is impressed by the efforts of Versova residents who have cleared 11 lakh kg of garbage and plastic from their beach in 40 weeks? It is United Nation's (UN) 'Patron of the Oceans' Lewis Pugh- a leading figure known for his efforts to protect oceans. So impressed is Pugh, that he will be cleaning Versova beach during the first weekend of August along with citizens in solidarity.
Pugh himself confirmed this to dna in an email saying he will be in Mumbai to support the Versova Beach Clean Up Initiative on August 6 and 7.
Pugh said he had been following the work of VRV since June 5 (World Environment Day) when citizens cleared 1.45 lakh kilogram of trash from the beach and had been regularly congratulating them and even sharing their work on social media.
"This movement is incredible for a number of reasons- it's certainly one of the biggest beach clean-ups in history and it is a local initiative…not by Government. The residents have in fact taken it upon themselves to ensure that they will not allow environment to be destroyed any further," Pugh wrote to dna.
Pugh, who in 2010 swam across a glacial lake on Mt Everest to draw attention to the melting glaciers in the Himalayas and its impact, also said that this movement had the potential to inspire not only residents in other cities in India but also across the world to start similar projects. "VRV members are showing what can be done with vision, passion and determination and I am so looking forward to joining Afroz (Shah) and his team for cleaning the beach," said Pugh.
The Versova beach clean-up was an initiative started by High Court lawyer Afroz Shah who formed Versova Residents Volunteers (VRV)- a group of like-minded residents who came together and started cleaning the beach voluntarily since October 2015. From June this year, even BMC began helping them.
"We are extremely delighted that the UN has taken a note of our initiative and Pugh has been in touch with me since June. He confirmed his visit to Mumbai on Thursday and we have been discussing several plans to solve the plastic crisis on the beach as well as cleaning of our sea in association with the UN support," said Afroz Shah, Lawyer and a Versova resident.
Mona Keshwani, a member of VRV, said that Pugh's visit would prove to be a big boost for their movement. "It should also prompt BMC and elected representatives to come out and join VRV to not only change the face of Versova beach forever, but also other citizen groups to not just complain about garbage issues. They should try and be part of the solution," she said.
About Lewis Pugh
Known as an ocean advocate he frequently swims across vulnerable ecosystems to draw attention to their plight and is also the only person to have completed a long distance swim in every ocean of the world and has pioneered more swims around famous landmarks than any other swimmer in history. It was in 2013 the United Nations appointed him 'Patron of the Oceans'. He is also currently working on creating a series of Marine Protected Areas around Antarctica and he was also chosen as one of National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year in 2015.
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