Versova Beach was once considered one of the dirtiest beaches in India. That was before Afroz Shah stepped onto the beach in 2015, with the intention of cleaning it. It all started with a weekly Sunday cleanup, that the young motivated man initiated with his 84-year-old neighbour at the time. It was only a matter of weeks before they were joined by a myriad of volunteers to help. The regular Sunday cleanup quickly became an official grassroots movement, that garnered official support from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). By 2020, volunteers had cleaned up to 40 million kilograms of plastic and waste – a figure that only keeps increasing, as the project has been running for more than 265 weeks so far. Of course, the project is a never-ending one, given that the beach is regularly littered. Nonetheless, this news leaves us hopeful that communities can do wonders when they are brought together under the same convictions – here, environmental ones. Today, Versova beach is regularly cited as one of the cleanest beaches in Mumbai, and turtles have been seen surfacing to hatch on the beach for the first time in 30 years.
further reading…
Versova Beach was once considered one of the dirtiest beaches in India. That was before Afroz Shah stepped onto the beach in 2015, with the intention of cleaning it. It all started with a weekly Sunday cleanup, that the young motivated man initiated with his 84-year-old neighbour at the time. It was only a matter of weeks before they were joined by a myriad of volunteers to help. The regular Sunday cleanup quickly became an official grassroots movement, that garnered official support from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). By 2020, volunteers had cleaned up to 40 million kilograms of plastic and waste – a figure that only keeps increasing, as the project has been running for more than 265 weeks so far. Of course, the project is a never-ending one, given that the beach is regularly littered. Nonetheless, this news leaves us hopeful that communities can do wonders when they are brought together under the same convictions – here, environmental ones. Today, Versova beach is regularly cited as one of the cleanest beaches in Mumbai, and turtles have been seen surfacing to hatch on the beach for the first time in 30 years.