Poisar river clean-up gets new lease of life

River March, a community-led initiative to save the rivers of Mumbai, inspired by Versova-based lawyer Afroz Shah's biggest beach clean-up drives in the world is planning to replicate a similar model along with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to ensure a complete clean up of the Poisar river.

"Every year, we hear of multi-crore contracts being allotted to clean up Poisar river and its tributaries, but it is never effectively carried out. Garbage and trash collects all over the stretch right from the mouth of the river near Kranti Nagar and the plastic and other waste simply ends up in the creek after being washed down during rains," said Sagar Vira, a River March volunteer and Kandivli resident, adding that inspired by Shah, they too have decided to initiate a detailed Poisar River Clean up campaign with help from the BMC and the community.

In fact, members of the March had started a clean-up drive at the mouth of Poisar river in April this year, but it did not yield the expected result due to lack of support from the BMC. "We are preparing a detailed plan, which is to divide the entire campaign into phases. While cleaning of the existing waste in and around the river along with the BMC is the most important aspect, we also have to ensure monitoring of the cleaning carried out by contractors pre-monsoon," said Vira.

"There also has to be an emphasis on awareness dissuading people living along the river bank from throwing waste into the river," he said.

The team has already sent letters to BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta and Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis, who has been taking a keen interest in the river rejuvenation plan.

"We cannot leave things to the BMC and wait for them to clean up our river and hence we as citizens will have to actively take part in ensuring that we save Poisar river. We are also planning to meet the CM to personally brief him about the campaign to ensure BMC's participation," said Gopal Jhaveri, founder of River March movement.

The team that will be surveying the entire 14-kilometre stretch to suggest interventions required under the campaign is also eager to pick up locations along the river that can be beautified and information about Poisar river and its relevance can be shared along with also using social media to spread information about the campaign.