07 August,2016 08:30 AM IST | | Aparna Shukla
UN delegates, celebrities and the common man stepped out on Saturday to clean this suburban beach of muck and garbage
Versova beach witnessed residents and celebrities coming out in large numbers to clean up the beach on Saturday, along with UN delegates - Mr Eric Solheim, chief of UN environment programme, and Lewis Pugh, the Patron of Ocean. Bollywood actors Pooja Bhatt and Deepak Dobriyal also joined in.
United Nations Patron of Ocean Lewis Pugh is felicitated by the Versova Resident's Association on Saturday. Pic/Prabhanjan Dhani
"The event went very well. We collected about 284 tonnes of plastic. Mr Lewis was here not just to help clean up the beach but also thank us on behalf of the UN," said Afroz Shah, the founder of the Versova Resident's Association. Speaking to mid-day, Pooja Bhatt said, "It's always such a distressing sight to see the muck. I feel this could be a tourist destination, but when you look closer, the water is all black. There is an ecology that is dying here. Hats off to Afroz Shah for working on this initiative."
Talking about the initiative, Shah, said, "This is our 42nd week (from October 25, 2015), and we intend to continue this till all the beaches and oceans are clean. We plan to take up Aksa beach and Dadar chowpatty next."
The group plans to clean the beach again on Sunday. "With the amount of people that are turning up, our revolution is becoming stronger every day," said Afroz.
"I, too, am going to put all my might and weight into this, and I have a fair amount of weight, so I might as well use it in the right direction," Bhatt said laughing.
