Afroz Shah and volunteers at a beach clean-up drive held at Versova beach on Sunday. (Photo: MRUGESH BANDIWADEKAR)

Mumbai: More than 86,000 kilograms of garbage was cleared from various locations of Mumbai on Sunday. Citizens and activists gathered to get beaches as well as public spaces rid of plastic waste during the monsoon. As such, 100 locations were simultaneously cleaned of garbage within two hours.

Around 6,400 citizens participated in the initiative, which took place from 7 am till 9 am on Sunday. Seven coastal areas were selected for the clean up including Cuffe Parade, Dadar, Juhu Koliwada, Worli, Bandra, Madh and Erangal. The cleanliness drive was also carried out outside areas of 80 railway stations and 13 slums. Chinu Jeet Kwatra, a beach crusader who has been carrying out cleanliness drives in the city’s coasts told The Asian Age that this initiative was dedicated to the workers of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

“Our motive was to apprise people with the crisis of waste accumulation that is occruing at our beaches and public spaces. Even though BMC is working towards managing this waste and keeping our city clean, it is up to the citizens to not litter and throw garbage recklessly,” said Mr Kwatra. Around 40,000 kg of garbage, half of the total garbage collected, was recovered from the coastal areas. Most of the waste constituted plastic which indicated the need to dispose the material in an environment-friendly way.

“People dump their domestic and plastic waste inside nullahs and sewers outside their homes, which ends up in the sea. It is during monsoon that the gravity of waste crisis is realised as the sea pukes the waste onto the beaches,” added Mr Kwatra.