Versova beach cleaned up, but residents brace for immersion garbage | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Versova beach cleaned up, but residents brace for immersion garbage

Hindustan Times | By, Mumbai:
Sep 14, 2016 01:37 AM IST

After two days of immersions across city beaches, Versova residents along with civic body officials collected 24,000 kg of garbage from one end of the beach over the two immersion days during the weekend

Versova beach, one of the dirtiest in the city, has never looked so clean. On Sunday, after residents and municipal workers picked up 24,000 kg of garbage left after Ganesh immersions during the weekend, the sand was so clean that residents of the area could see that water was clearer.

The volunteers sent nearly eight truckloads of idol parts and plastic to the dumping grounds on Sunday, leaving one stretch of the beach between Sagar-kutir and the southern end spic and span.
The volunteers sent nearly eight truckloads of idol parts and plastic to the dumping grounds on Sunday, leaving one stretch of the beach between Sagar-kutir and the southern end spic and span.

The volunteers sent nearly eight truckloads of idol parts and plastic to the dumping grounds on Sunday, leaving one stretch of the beach between Sagar-kutir and the southern end spic and span. They are now bracing up for the trash that will be left after the last and big day of immersion — on Thursday.

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Read: One-and-a-half-day immersion: 8 truckloads of idol parts collected from Versova

Members of Versova Residents’ Volunteers (VRV) completed their 48th consecutive Sunday. They have so far sent 2,848 tonnes of trash from the beach to the dumping grounds. Fifty volunteers and with 30 municipal workers were part of the beach clean-up this weekend.

An August 2016 picture shows the Versova beach strewn with garbage and people volunteering in a clean-up drive. (HT Photo)
An August 2016 picture shows the Versova beach strewn with garbage and people volunteering in a clean-up drive. (HT Photo)

“After months of hard work, we managed to make the beach trash-free,” said Afroz Shah, founder, VRV. “We segregated the group into two parts — one that picks up idol parts and the other collects plastic and other pieces of trash. After the clean-up, we could actually see that water had become clearer closer to the shoreline,” he said.

Shah added that while the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers were only focusing on idol parts while residents were more worried about removing plaster of Paris (PoP) debris from the shoreline. Most idols are made of PoP which takes months to disintegrate in the water.

Next weekend, members of Maharashtra Maritime Board will join VRV and the BMC on the occasion of International Coastal Cleanup day.

Students clean-up Dadar beach after idol immersions

Students of ITM Karghar’s Eco Club carried out beach clean-up at Chaitya bhoomi, Dadar Chowpatty, on Monday morning. More than 40 students cleaned a 800-metre stretch of the beach

“A large amount of garlands, broken glasses, coconuts, plastic bags and waste food lay on the beach. Out of which, most of the waste food will be feed to stray animals while others will be recycled,” said Bhavik Sachdev, President of ITM’s Eco Club.

1,68,161 immersions so far

*September 6 (one-and-a-half day of immersions): 68,353 idols

*September 9 (fifth immersion day): 31,088 idols

*September 10 (Gauri visarjan day): 49,757 idols

*September 11 (seventh day of immersion):18,963 idols

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