New Delhi: When 5 youth decided to make a difference and clean up 3.5 km Carter Road, Bandra it seemed a Herculean task. They formed Carter Clean up on 24th June 2021. Soon they formed an army of volunteers.
More than thousand volunteers have joined together and over last 100 weeks slowly and steadfastly made a difference. Today thousands of people visit Carter Road every week and spend time only because it has transformed over the last two years .
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Indian Navy, Police, BMC, School students, College students, couples, senior citizens toil for hours collecting plastic waste and cleaning the chocked up mangroves.
Leading Corporate companies helped fund cloth bags, gloves, brooms , water etc for the volunteers.
Ashwin Malwade, Nupur Agarwal, Freisha B, Maansi Ahuja with Harry together started a movement against plastic pollution, marine pollution and recycling plastic waste every weekend.
Their vision of making Bandra Carter Road plastic free zone , promoting recycling of plastic and making the mangroves a thriving Eco system for birds and marine species over time has seen a significant improvement.
The work done is extremely remarkable they pick up religious idols from the sea and send it to an idol recycler. The plastic collected is sent to a cement factory for Refuse Derived Fuel and they also remove construction material dumped.
Local residents who come for their walks and with their dogs are more careful not to dirty the surrounding and use dust bins.
Multiple celebrities from Bollywood, Fashion, singers, etc have joined forces with the team to clean plastic bags and bottles. They motivate others to join in.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
