Mumbai: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the government is planning a policy to tackle marine litter, and has activist and lawyer Afroz Shah, to help draft it. Mr. Shah said, “The policy is pursuant to a G20 resolution in Hamburg in July, where all countries decided to tackle the issue of marine litter. No country has a policy for marine litter yet, and India must take the lead in drafting a law to tackle it.”
He said there are three types of marine litter: solid, liquid and microplastics. Once in the deep sea, marine litter becomes impossible to clean and wreaks havoc on the marine habitat. “It even enters our food chain through fish. Beach clean-ups are the first step to tackling marine litter. One must go back to the source to tackle this issue.”
According to him, the said Marine Litter Policy would have to take the shape of an act with an independent regulator to enforce it Mr. Fadnavis, accompanied by Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray, joined Mr. Shah’s 111-week-long citizen-led clean up drive of Versova beach.
The drive had been suspended in November following threats by anti-social elements and the BMC’s failure to dispose of five lakh kg of garbage collected since July. The drive resumed on Saturday with thousands of volunteers turning up.
Mr. Fadnavis said, “It was unfortunate this drive was suspended. All of us are with you and Mr. Shah, and will ensure this drive continues unhindered.”
Mr. Thackery, among the first to support the drive, said the proposed ban on plastic will impact the environment positively.
