New Delhi: On May 27, Mumbai will start the celebrations of 45th World Environment Day for which India is the host country, with 5,000 Mumbaikars – from political dignitaries, actors to general public participating in the mass clean-up at one of city’s cleanest beach – Versova from which 15 million kilograms of plastic and waste has already been removed. Afroz Shah, the man behind the world’s biggest and longest beach clean-up said, “We are glad India is the host country for this world environment day. As the theme of this year is ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’, we will make sure we do our best to lead the movement.”
Week 136 . #BeatPlasticPollution .
India hosts World Environment day 2018 along with @UNEnvironment .The celebration starts @versovabeach with cleaning the beach – to tackle marine debris .
Mumbaikars -Pls join on 27 May@ 6am. Historical day .
Our bit to love our ocean. pic.twitter.com/daRJP3XoX5
— Afroz shah (@AfrozShah1) May 22, 2018
Sharing details about the clean-up activity on May 27, Afroz added,
On May 27, three interesting things will happen here – one, from May 25, we will start sending divers underneath the water so that they can collect the waste from the ocean bed. Now, this is the first time in India and Mumbai, divers will be sent for a clean-up activity. This is important – we need to know what type of waste we are dealing with so that adequate actions can be taken by the authorities. Secondly, we will launch few boats at Versova, which will help in clean-up activities in mangroves here. Last, but not the least, we will also launch few cycles that will have three to four segregated bins – these cycles then will roam in and around the city and help in the collection process of the garbage.
Highlighting who all will be present to mark this important day at Versova, Afroz said,
The Versova beach clean-up will see Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment, Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister Of Maharashtra, Ramdas Kadam, Environment Minister of Maharashtra and Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Enviornment Minister, to name a few.
Apart from the political leaders, actor Dia Mirza has also confirmed her presence for the event, on her social media, she said,
Looking forward to joining you and your incredible team of volunteers @AfrozShah1! #Hero #BeatPlasticPollution #SayNoToSingleUsePlastics.
Looking forward to joining you and your incredible team of volunteers @AfrozShah1! #Hero #BeatPlasticPollution #SayNoToSingleUsePlastics https://t.co/xfb362gO6K
— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) May 22, 2018
Apart from the clean-up at Versova, we will make sure, all the 5,000 people present at Versova take pledge for doing their bit for the environment by ditching plastic from their life completely. Moreover, we will also be felicitating beach warriors – government officials, schools, NGOs, corporates, who have done tremendous work in controlling plastic pollution, signs off Afroz Shah, the man who is in love with the beaches and the Arabian Sea and it’s that love that inspired him to start the clean-up at Versova in 2016.
