PM Modi's nudge spurs on Versova beach champs; citizens to take clean-up drive into Arabian Sea

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the world's largest community beach clean-up drive, spearheaded by lawyer Afroz Shah at Versova, during his 'Mann Ki Baat' radio programme on Sunday, the citizens' movement is set to step up a gear by taking the clean-up drive into the Arabian Sea.

Over the course of 85 weeks, volunteers led by Shah have already managed to clear 5.3 million kilograms of trash from Versova beach.

Speaking to DNA, Shah said the volunteers were all set to initiate a pilot project on which they have been working for quite sometime. "We are planning to install specialised nets at nine points where nullahs from various areas enter the Versova creek. The idea is to filter out the trash and remove it before it enters the sea, which will help reduce the trash that comes onto the beaches," he said.

As per the plan, there will be boats that will make trips into the sea during high tide and collect trash from the nets, which will then be brought back to the closest shore before being recycled. In fact, Shah, who is the recipient of United Nations Environment Programme 'Champion of the Earth' Award, said that they have already conducted several surveys along with members of the local fishing community who are more than eager to help in the project.

"The fishing community has now become an integral part of the Versova beach clean up movement and we will need their expertise and help in setting up nets, as well as collecting the trash on boats, as this will be a long term project. Fortunately, since UNEP and even Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) has agreed to partner with us, we will be initiating this project on a bigger scale soon," Shah said.

The aim is to ensure that step-by-step, Versova beach becomes one of the most beautiful beaches in the country, he added.

Dr Charul Bhanji from Versova, who hails from the fishing community and has joined hands with Shah and his team, said that there are several nullahs from Oshiwara, Goregaon, Malad and other areas that end up in the Versova creek, and when the high tide water recedes, all the plastic and other refuse that is dumped makes its way into the creek.

"We have taken several trips on boats along with Shah and young men from our community, and we have found that this was feasible. We will have regular boats that will collect the trash. In fact, we also want to have few separate boats with floating nets for collecting the plastic and trash floating on the surface of water," Banji said.

Meanwhile, according to Shah, the plans do not just end here. "While carrying out our surveys, we also found that the pristine mangroves near the creek are covered with plastic. We have planned to have two smaller dinghies that will go along with bigger boats and enter the mangrove area during high tide and remove all the plastic stuck in the mangroves. The garbage collected will be brought on shore by the bigger boats," he said, adding that they plan to begin this on June 4, the eve of World Environment Day.