The vision for Versova

They say the best way to engender action is to lead by example. The Versova beach clean-up initiative led by the residentsof Versova, surrounding areas and some even as far as Mulund and Bhayandar, has now run over a period of 38 weeks, cleaning up a mammoth 9,01,500kg of plastic garbage and filth as of today. A report in dna,earlier this week,gave an account of how Andheri MLA Ameet Satam met up with the Versova Residents Volunteer (VRV) members to understand their grievances. Their meeting brought to light an important aspect—the inadequacy of the civic machinery to cope with the task at hand, thereby making the citizens pitch in themselves.Filmmaker Neerav Ghosh,who is also an active member of VRV, shares five changes that he would like to see in the area in the near, mid-term and long-term future:

1) The tenders need to be re-structured
The tenders currently in place for cleaning up the beach and jetty are grossly inadequate, opines Ghosh. “One of the tenders has no mention of machinery,” he says, “One tender has eight workers and one tractor trolley(that barely works) while the other has 12 workers. Considering the amount of plastic waste we are generating today, we probably need about 40 people working in two shifts.”

2) The waste needs to be prevented from coming into the beach
“We need to have a stoppage system at the end of the sewers and at the end of the creek to prevent the waste from going further into the ocean,” says Ghosh. To address this, sewage treatment and plastic waste segregation need to happen at all the points where the drains lead to the creek.

3) Tree plantation and beautification need to happen
There is a desire amongst people working for the cause to turn the jetty area into a beautiful green lagoon.“In the next two weeks, we will be planting saplings along the 2-3 access roads leading up to the beach,” says Ghosh, who is certain that the civic authorities will cooperate in getting the task done.

4) The locals must be educated on the subject
The access to the Versova jetty is through a fishing village. “We have started talking to the members of this community to have them partner with us,” says Ghosh, “We believe that once the area is kept clean, littering will reduce. Additionally, the area needs to be policed in the mid- to long-term.”

5) Open drains must be covered to reduce littering
Another solution to reduce littering is to cover the open drains. “It is a practical solution because then you won’t have access to throw garbage into the drain,” says Ghosh.