Mumbai: If you happen to spot an island of Canna flowers blooming from a bed of plants in plastic bottles in the Poisar River in Kandivali (West), don’t mistake it for just another piece of garbage dumped in by someone who does not care about the environment.
On Sunday, activists from the group River March floated an 8x5-foot vessel made of plastic bottles, held together by bird nets and adhesive tape. The float was put together in under a day, and the nominal cost for the material used was borne by the members. The plastic bottles were collected from restaurants and the volunteers’ homes.
Around 50 Canna saplings taken from a median on Andheri New Link Road were planted on the floating flower bed. These plants were to be discarded because of the construction of the Metro II-A project before River March secured permission to utilise them for their project to purify river water, reduce pungent smell in and around the water and to provide an aesthetic aspect to the river.
Subhajit Mukerji, a member of River March, conceptualised this project as a cost-effective and natural way to purify dirty water. “I have not invented any technology. This idea is in use in Japan, where approximately 25% of their crops are grown on floating structures. But perhaps the best part of the project is that we have utilised 500 plastic bottles, that would otherwise end up in sewers and landfills, to improve water quality.”
Mr.Mukherji said a similar project was undertaken in Surat to great effect and that the State Environment Ministry had also contacted them to appreciate their efforts. Chetan Gandhi, another member, said the River March movement began on December 25, 2014, and they have been holding an annual river march based on Gandhiji’s Dandi March on the first Sunday of March since then.
