Ganesh Chaturthi might have been over, but traces of the festival were visible on Mumbai’s beaches for days after.
Thankfully, a group of proactive citizens stepped in and did what should have been done in the first place – picked up all the trash that was left behind.
Versova beach, which has an active cleanliness drive in place, saw concerned citizens work almost all night and even into the early hours of the morning to clear the trash off the beach.
Even more heartening – a good proportion of helpers. more than 500, were students from schools and colleges.
There were up to 900 other volunteers, including activist Afroze Shah, and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers in total too. Some volunteers also worked on the days of the immersion too – 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th.
Week 99 .Ganpati Visarjan cleanup. 10 days of nonstop cleaning comes to an end.Done our bit. 80 tons plastic/ filth removed. Ocean breathes. pic.twitter.com/EUVuSs5DOy
— Afroz Shah (@AfrozShah1) September 6, 2017
Week 99 cleanup.Hard work .Hard work .Hard work .And with smile and energy. Ocean is precious and we want our precious lifeline protected. pic.twitter.com/CFUJfenPvI
— Afroz Shah (@AfrozShah1) September 5, 2017
Rohan Kotwalkar, a volunteer, told IndiaTimes that on the first day of immersion, they picked up about 1900 idols and their pieces, but on an average up to a thousand idols were collected everyday.
Now, if only everybody felt the need to keep our beaches pristine!
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