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ShareFor the last week, the sea around Juhu beach has been churning out more than 300 tonnes of solid waste every day, making the beach practically unusable for visitors.
Beach cleaning contractor, Sanjay Gandhi of Balaji Industries, has put to use machinery including two German-made beach cleaning vehicles, JVCs and tractor trolleys to clean the beach. "Till July 5, we used to remove not more than four to five tonnes daily with the help of just one dumper. But since July 6, we have put nearly 60 to 70 dumpers into service to remove the solid waste. We are lifting more than 300 tonnes every day," Gandhi said.
"Heavy rains and prolonged high tide also hamper our operations. Because of the tides we have just six to seven hours to clean the beach. To meet the deadline, we have detailed more than 70 workers," he said.
Talking about the type of waste piling up every day, Gandhi said that about 90 per cent is high-quality recyclable plastic. "All the material is so mangled that it has become solid, making it difficult to lift manually," he added.
The BMC's beach supervisor, Minesh Pimple said that due to unspecified changes in levels of sea current and wave patterns, huge quantities of waste was being dumped on Juhu beach. "Some years ago, the same pattern was witnessed at the Dadar and Mahim beaches, but this is the first time it is being seen at Juhu," he said.
Corporator Adolf D'souza blamed the civic authorities for not cleaning storm water drains that empty into the sea near Juhu beach properly. As a result, nearly 50 meters of the beach have been buried under waste.
