VRV has initiated a citizen-led campaign called Clean Up Versova Rock Beach and 15 of its members met Parag Masurkar, assistant municipal commissioner (K-West ward) and submitted their demands.
After ridding Versova beach of almost 1.22 lakh kg of trash in the past 28 weeks, the members of Versova Resident Volunteers (VRV), a citizens group, met BMC officials on Monday demanding not only the deployment of more manpower and machines, but also a display of serious intent to clean up the beach.
VRV has initiated a citizen-led campaign called Clean Up Versova Rock Beach and 15 of its members met Parag Masurkar, assistant municipal commissioner (K-West ward) and submitted their demands.
"We told him that the two contractors appointed for cleaning Versova beach were not doing their work properly and hence the beach remains one of the city's dirtiest beaches. The contractor who has the south end of the beach has one tractor, which is in a rundown state, and 10 labourers, while the contractor who has the north end has no machines and just eight working women," said Bombay High Court lawyer and Versova resident Afroz Shah, who played a crucial role in VRV's formation.
Shah added that the 18 staff deployed for the beach, which stretches for 2km, were insufficient and the beach was hence full of trash. "We have asked for at least 40 labourers to work there, as well as for two new tractors and two diggers so that the plastic stuck deep in the sand can be easily removed," he said, adding that VRV has also highlighted the fact that one of the reasons for the sorry state of the beach is that there is no supervision of the cleaning up done by contractors and, hence, VRV was even ready to provide two volunteers to supervise and audit the beach cleaning.
Actor Naresh Suri, who has been one of VRV's most active members and was also part of the delegation that met BMC officials, said that the same set of labourers — when working along with citizens on weekends — worked efficiently and hence it was important that their work is supervised, apart from weekly targets being drawn for cleaning up the beach. "All the focus has been on Juhu beach and it is now important that the BMC shifts its focus to Versova beach too. We also told BMC officials that there is an urgent need to make ramps at other entry points as well for the removal of garbage, since currently garbage-cleaning vehicles can only enter from Sagar Kutir," Suri said, adding that VRV is also drawing plans to beautify the beach.
Speaking to dna, Parag Masurkar said that he appreciated the work being done by the residents, as it was a wonderful initiative. "The citizens have raised some concerns about the contractors and hence I have called for a joint inspection on Friday morning. I have even called the contractors so that we can resolve the issues and ensure that the beach is cleaned up."
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