Mumbai: In June this year, Afroz Shah drew worldwide attention for his efforts to clean up years of filth from Versova beach.
Mr. Shah was only doing what he, as a citizen, believed was his prime responsibility; something Mumbaikars have evaded for long. It’s a city that loves to litter, leaving the cleaning up to someone else. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claims it does its fair share of work on this front, but it’s clearly not enough. Here are the numbers: 3,000 employees are responsible for the city’s cleanliness, while 450 NGO workers are on its payroll for cleaning the city; 50 marshalls hunt down and penalise those who violate cleanliness guidelines and 42 supervisors check on NGO workers and BMC sanitary employees’ performance. Yet, the results are far from visible. Says Assistant Head Supervisor, Solid Waste Management, Tanaji Ghag, “The resources at our disposal are not sufficient to deal with crores of people living in Mumbai. Everyone shares a part of that responsibility.”
Then there are the unsung heroes, like the estimated 72,000 unorganised wastepickers who sort through the city’s trash. There are others like Mr. Shah, who often work solo with few rewards, irrespective of whether the BMC does its job or not.
If there is one thing they would want Mumbai to know, it is this: change begins with its citizens.
Mahim, Dadar beaches: Mrunalini Jog, Jay Shringarpure
The clogged Mithi River was held responsible for the 2005 deluge in the city, but people haven’t stopped dumping trash into it. At Mahim beach, it leaves evidence of this callousness.
Mrunalini Jog was among the few residents who refused to let things be. In January 2006, the residents began to clean the beach and formed the Mahim Beach Committee to ensure the BMC contractor kept his part of the deal. “We simply started going to our beach to clean it, so our families could spend time there. The BMC-appointed contractor was around for five years, but did not do anything. After we created the committee, the contractor started to come and clean the beach as well,” says Ms. Jog.
She doesn’t think it’s a big deal. “There are hundreds of people like me who come out to clean the beach without any publicity. There is no real need to make a big deal out of it”.
A few stops away, in March this year, Jay Shringarpure’s seven-year-old daughter asked him if she could play near the water at Dadar beach. Mr. Shringarpure was torn: he could not deny his daughter the pleasure, and yet the filth on the beach was a huge deterrent.
Mr. Shringarpure was determined to get down to work. He went solo, clearing whatever trash he could lay his hands on every Sunday, from 4.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. Soon, others started joining him and he opened a Facebook page, Beautify Dadar Beach.
Civic officials have repeatedly said 40% of the trash that accumulates at Dadar Chowpatty is thrown by visitors and hawkers. Mr. Shringarpure claims the remaining 60% is thrown up by the Mithi river. The waste, he says, floats with the river for 10 km to 15 km and is then washed ashore. He has informally advised the BMC to construct a filtering grid at the place where the river meets the sea and hopes BMC workers can be assigned to pick up the trash from it on a daily basis.
Carter Road: Rehan Merchant
Web designer Rehan Merchant (53), has a very different memory of the Carter Road of his childhood. Back then, there were no mangroves. He could swim, and on a good day, even take his boat out into the sea.
But ever since he returned from Dubai eight years ago, Mr. Merchant felt a sense of disquiet every time he went to the seafront. Mangroves were growing tall and used as a dumping ground, the beach was filthy, and the water, stagnant and stinky. “I just wanted a place to swim, and to use my boat,” he says.
With zero capital investment, he launched into battle armed with a spade, a handcart and truckloads of dedication.
His research unearthed concrete blocks, bricks and tiles — parts of a monument and an old shoreline — that were carried into the mangroves by strong tidal waves and were stuck in their roots.
Over the years, the debris formed a new shoreline, preventing the water from flowing in and out of the mangroves.
He began by picking up the trash and dug a channel starting from the sewer pipes, leading it around and away from the newly formed shoreline right into the mangroves. He then reinforced the channel with wooden bars, tree trunks and logs from all over the city, particularly vegetable markets. He gradually distributed the sand, stones, bricks, tiles and concrete blocks along the other end of the new shore, and cleaned the two sewers.
His three-month-long effort, starting June this year, did not go unnoticed. People soon began to donate money, helping him to hire an assistant for ₹600 a day. He is now looking for the BMC to assign someone to take care of the mangroves. He began conducting tours through the mangroves last week to raise funds for the cause. It’s important that the work doesn’t stop, he says. “Because if that happens, all our efforts will go in vain.”
Vasai beaches: Zsuzsanna Ferrao and Concesao D’costa
Zsuzsanna Ferrao moved from Hungary to India in 2013 when she married Mumbai-based software engineer Lisbon Ferrao. India is now her home, and the couple has two children, Lucius, 3 and Nascha, 2. The family regularly goes to the Rangoan beach in Vasai for a picnic, a game of cricket or to just enjoy the sea. “But every time, we’d see the beach was getting dirtier and dirtier. We thought of our children: how can they play here, grow up with all of this around?” says Ms. Ferrao. “So in the beginning of April we started picking up litter from the beach, and people joined in.” Their children participated in picking up the trash as well.
Around the same time, Concesao D’costa, a Vasai resident, initiated the clean-up at Bhuigaon beach along with her fiancée, Rodney Colaco. She got to know about Ms. Ferrao and they decided to combine their efforts. The two established the Beautify Rangoan Beach and Clean Vasai Beaches communities on Facebook. “Even if people don’t clean with us, many stopped littering looking at us,” says Ms. D’costa.
Every Sunday, up to 10 volunteers from the vicinity clean Rangoan and Bhuigaon beaches, and are joined by others. Ms. Ferrao and Ms. D’costa have put up dustbins at Rangoan, but the problem, especially in the monsoon, “is that 90% of trash is brought in with the waves,” says Ms. Ferrao.
To track the trash on beaches, the Ferraos plan to install GPS chips in plastic bottles and spread them across community bins, from where BMC trucks pick up garbage. Lisbon Ferrao calculated that a tracking device with chip, battery and case would cost ₹2500, and 400 chips can cover the entire city. The Ferraos are now looking for a sponsor.
Their effort may still be small, but the Ferraos underscore its importance. “Most people simply don’t care, but they must learn that their environment is their responsibility,” says Ms. Ferrao. “And that no one, including the BMC, will clean it for them.”
Sanjay Gandhi National Park: Gopal Jhaveri
In May 2011, one of the five sambar deer at Sanjay Gandhi National Park died and it was found that he had 3.5 kg of plastic in its body. This moved Gopal Jhaveri, a regular visitor at the Park, to carry out plastic-collection drives there for about three hours every Sunday. “I started the work with four friends and we were joined by visitors to the national park. It was pointless to wait for the authorities to do something about it.” Animals, he says, still face grave danger from incoming vehicles and smugglers.
Mr. Jhaveri now has 250 volunteers, who are organised into six groups across various initiatives.
Wall art for a cause: Raashi Raghunath
Mumbai’s walls have red streaks on them from years of spitting paan. Raashi Raghunath wanted to do more than wash the stains and give the walls a coat of paint. She wanted to use them for artistic expression.
The Ashoka fellow initiated Project MAD (Murals and Doodles) in 2013, to “mobilise fellow college students to clean the city’s walls.” She wanted to give them a chance to showcase their artistic skills on a large, permanent, canvas too.
The beautification effort snowballed into raising awareness on gender equality and AIDS. The core team had college students Shlomoh Samuel (22), Tamim Sangrar (21) and Aditi Monde (21) on it.
The team has worked on 11 projects and connected with 150 artists from the city. For Ms. Raghunath, it is important that the messages strike a chord with people. “We do not believe in painting generic messages like ‘Save water’ or ‘Don’t cut trees’.”
Project MAD is not a new entrant in this space, though. In 2007, visual jockey and artist Dhanya Pilo launched ‘The Wall Project’ to cover grey walls and vertical surfaces with colourful art.
While getting permission for painting the walls from authorities has not been easy, the Project MAD team refuses to let this deter them. Says Ms Raghunath. “The walls are usually subject to spitting. We know that the change in mindset will not be overnight.”
Kandivali: Afzal & Nusrat Khatri
Afzal (68) and Nusrat Khatri (66) returned from New York in 2001 with the aim of giving back in whatever way they could. But they were clear they didn’t want to be associated with NGOs or political parties, and decided to work for nature conservation on their own.
When they came to live in Kandivali, the cleanliness in the area left much to be desired. So they decided to start by cleaning their surroundings first, with help from a few labourers in the area. For the past 16 years, they have been involved with making compost pits in their residential complex and nearby areas, and carrying out garbage collection drives. They have also collaborated with Thakur Shyam Narayan school in Kandivali and work regularly with sensitising children in BMC schools and working with them on tree plantation.
In 2009, at Samta Nagar police station they saw a constable clearing dead plants and donated a few newly-potted ones. Police Inspector Vinayak Mule, then asked the couple if they could help clean the backyard, which had become a dumping ground. “We were more than happy to take up the task without knowing what we were in for. We saw a two-and-a-half feet pile of garbage on the surface, with some more buried in the ground. We had to ask for help to clean it up,” says Ms. Khatri.
They were helped by a batch of 40 students from Thakur College, Kandivali who went to the dumping ground every Sunday for more than two months. Little by little, the work they were doing got noticed and passers-by, some of whom volunteered to help with supplies. “We were also helped by the BMC for the construction of compost pits and picking up the garbage.” A biodiversity garden now exists in place of the dump. This November, the couple are organising a morning raga listening session there.
After over a decade’s experience with clean-ups, the couple realise that there is more to conservation than theorising. Says Ms. Khatri, “Citizens need to go out and work in nature. It doesn’t have to be a big cause.”
