Recently Mumbai witnessed its glorious festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, the celebrations brought back the joy of Mumbaikars, who waited an entire year for their dearest Bappa.
Beach Cleanup With Mumbaikars
ADVERTISEMENT
The city may have fancied the auspicious delight of the festivities, except as every year Mumbai’s beaches paid the toll. Thousands of Ganesh idols washed ashore on the ensuing morning after the Visarjan.
‘Beach Warriors’ a project run by ‘Khushiyaan Foundation’ joined forces by ‘Transworld Group’ took responsibility for Mumbai’s Dadar Beach (Behind Kirti College) and conducted several Post Visarjan Cleanups throughout the festive season. Hundreds of college volunteers and corporate employees also showed their aggressive support by joining hands in the cleanups in a plea to save their dearest beach. In total, the collaboration of citizens and the on-ground support team managed to save more than 40 tons of garbage from entering the ocean,
The motive behind these cleanup activities was to provide seva and at the same time spread awareness during the processions to conduct the Visarjan at the numerous created artificial ponds or at their homes. Many of the devotees are unaware/uneducated about their careless disposal of Pooja particulars and their ill effects on nature. Ganesh idols made out of POP (Plaster Of Paris) when submerged into the ocean dissolve harmful insoluble which directly affect marine life. Apart from POP idols, the large number of citizen gatherings also needed to be managed ensuring peaceful processions working side by side with the Mumbai Police and the NDRF Jawans.
Amongst the numerous responsible citizens joining the cleanup activity was Rasika Dugal (Actor and Environment lover), who rigorously did the cleanup inspiring millions. Her presence along with Naveli Deshmukh, Core team of Beach Warriors, Transworld Group and various other known faces elevated the morals of 800+ citizens who dedicated their precious time on a Friday morning on the 29th of September marking the final day of the two-week-long Post Visarjan drive a grand success.
“Conservation of the fragile marine and coastal ecosystems is a priority for us. The beach clean-up project is one of our flagship projects whereby we ensure that the drive runs for all 52 weeks in a year, drawing the community together to create and maintain a healthy coastal life. We are proud to partner with Beach Warriors and support their efforts for marine conservation,” said Anisha Ramakrishnan, Director, Transworld Group. Over the past 3 years, Transworld Group has enabled more than 12,000 individuals to come together and collect more than 510 tons of waste from beach clean-up drives.
The Founder of Beach Warriors, Dr. Chinu Kwatra, has been conducting these activities right at the same Dadar beach for the last six years congratulated the citizens for aggressively showing support for his initiative and thanked them with his precious words. He is also thankful to the Transworld Group for joining hands 3 years back right when he planned to stop the drives due to lack of financial support.
According to Dr. Chinu, over the last six years, they have completed 287 weeks and organised more than 500 cleanups at Dadar and Juhu Koliwada beach. He says, there has been a significant change and the number of idols washed away next day at Dadar beach have reduced, however, he says that the change needs to be faster. More and more people need to be made aware so that he and his team can focus their vision on the other parts of the city which require their hand. Dr. Chinu urges people to join his regular drives every weekend by connecting with his team on social media - @beachwarriorsindia
https://instagram.com/beachwarriorsindia?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
