New Delhi: 136 weeks ago, Mumbai’s Versova beach was a knee-deep dumpyard for plastics and rubbish – so dirty that you could barely walk on the beach. But after undergoing what the United Nations has called the ‘world’s largest beach clean-up project’, the beach has witnessed a dramatic transformation from filthy to pristine, and became home to Olive Ridley Sea Turtle hatchlings after 20 years. The credit to achieve this feat goes to thousands of volunteers who under the guidance of environmentalist Afroz Shah have collected over 15 million kilograms of waste. Understanding that it takes a collective movement to make the biggest difference, actor Shahid Kapoor’s wife Mira Rajput through an Instagram post has now called upon citizens, organisations and individuals to come together and clean Mumbai’s Juhu beach, which stretches for six kilometres up to Versova.
In her Instagram post, Mira Rajput raised concerns about the plastic waste that continue to dwell at the Juhu beach, and urged everyone to come forward, clean up the mess and protect the environment.
Let’s make a change, clean-up our mess, and hear nature’s call not to choke her more than she already is, read the post Mira Rajput addressed to her over a million Instagram followers.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjWiZ4iFTbo/?taken-by=mira.kapoor
She further highlighted that every year before the arrival of the monsoon, all the plastic that clogs the sea is thrown out by it, which makes it an appropriate time to clean the beach and simultaneously the water.
Let’s do this together and clean up Juhu Beach. We owe it to our children who play in the sand, the teams that play their football and cricket matches on it, the walkers and the yogis, the dogs that roam enthusiastically and the birds that forage for their feed, Mira Rajput wrote in her post.
Ahead of the World Environment Day celebrations, the workers of Solid Waste Management Department, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai are also working on a war footing to clean-up the Juhu beach.
A sanitation campaign was undertaken at Juhu Beach by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.#MyCleanIndia #SwachhBharat pic.twitter.com/duurMwPY1L
— Swachh Bharat Urban (@SwachhBharatGov) May 29, 2018
One day, the Juhu beach will also become a pristine coastline, given the people and environmentalist like Afroz Shah come forward in huge numbers and clean up the beach. Versova beach clean-up is a classic example, demonstrating what happens when people stand up for the environment – it makes the world a cleaner and much better place to live.
Kevin
May 31, 2018 at 1:21 am
Why cant the people responsible for cleaning the beach do it more often and actually do their jobs. All this trash doesn’t just show up suddenly. Everywhere , all around us, the trash is generated by people, like us, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be cleaned by the conservancy agency. We have a huge population, but we are not able to channelise this resource to good use. Blame should go only on administration. Blaming other common people for dirtying places is not at all a solution.