Day after immersion, students sweep beaches clean

Despite growing number of people opting for eco-friendly idols, the beaches tend to be full of decayed flower garlands, coconut shells, festoons and plastic cups. On Thrusday morning, the case was no different at the Juhu beach, Santa Cruz-Vile Parle.

When dna reached the place, the beach was strewn with Plaser of Paris (PoP) idols and left over of the festivities. dna on Thursday took up the initiative to clean up the Juhu beach. After 10 days of festivities that leave the beaches dirty and no one to care, dna along with some locals, residents and students cleaned it up.

The drive that started at around 4 am went on for four hours in which over 400 volunteers cleaned the beach. “As part of the eco-Ganesha initiative, the beach clean-up started at around 4 am. The initiative was taken up by dna along with the NGO to help BMC clear all the POP and the leftover after the Visarjan,” said Larson Fernandes, who handles the Juhu Angels, a local NGO.

He added, “This year we had a lot of school students participating and volunteering. The number was almost twice as compared to last year.”

As part of the clean-up drive, students from Holy Corss School, St Joseph School, Holy Cross School were provided with safety gears, gloves and mask along with garbage bags. “While last year we used around 200 garbage bags to clean up the beach, this year we used around 600 bags,” said Larson.