Mumbai’s Versova Beach Undergoes Drastic Makeover In Mega Clean Up Drive

Recently ‘Swachh Versova’ drive hit its crescendo when over 500 residents, famous Bollywood celebrities, BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) labourers and UN officials, including Eric Solheim, Chief of United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) and Lewis Pugh, the UN Patron of the Oceans, gathered to clean up the Versova Beach. The result – over 2.84 lakh kilograms of trash was manually removed from the 2.5-km long beach.

The massive drive – Versova Residents Volunteers (VRV) was started by a local hero and lawyer named Afroz Shah.

This video put up by swimmer Lewis Pugh is worth a thousand words. He was in Mumbai over the weekend to especially lend a hand to the VRV group efforts. As an endurance swimmer, Pugh has conquered difficult aquatic conditions and he is the first person to have swim across the Arctic Circle in an attempt to raise awareness about melting ice caps.

I can’t get this scene out my mind. We must keep #MumbaiBeachClean for these children. Please RT. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/LWmnpxHeLL

— Lewis Pugh (@LewisPugh) 9 August 2016

This clean-up drive which is now in its 43rd week since October 2015 is the largest beach clean-up in history. It saw people from different walks of life, from UN dignitaries, representatives of the All India Plastic Manufacturers Association, students from different films school to Bollywood celebrities like Pooja Bhatt and Deepak Dobriyal join the efforts.