Mahim beach clean-up crusaders keep running into piles of filth

Fishing community continues to throw garbage and defecate on the beach

An uphill task: With support from volunteers and social activists, the trash tag challenge, which includes taking pictures of the beach before and after cleaning, has helped spread awareness of the Mahim beach clean-up initiative.

What began as an initiative by a Mumbai-based couple to keep Mahim beach clean has now garnered support from all over the world. Still, 85 weeks after they started, Indranil Sengupta and Rabia Tiwari walk an uphill road, fighting against plastic, construction debris and garbage discarded by the fishing community that lives in the vicinity.

The couple, who moved to a sea-facing house in 2017, witnessed the daily accumulation of garbage on the beach, and decided to do something about it, They now clean the stretch from the Mahim Dargah lane to Hinduja Hospital every weekend from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

“The Mithi river is the primary source, it brings 90% of the filth to the beach while the remaining 10% is dumped by the fishing community that stays close to the beach. A micromanaged system for waste management is needed, failing which the dirt will keep piling up,” said Mr. Sengupta.

The modest initiative, which soon snowballed into the Mahim Beach Clean Up movement, has been receiving support on a global scale from volunteers and social activists, who have been spreading awareness about the issue on social media platforms. The Trash Tag challenge, which included taking pictures of the beach before and after being cleaned up, was part of this movement.

Now, around 25 to 30 volunteers turn up at the beach every weekend to help the couple clean up the entire week's accumulation of filth.

Volunteers said that due to lack of basic policing, the beach is occupied by drug addicts in the evening. Meanwhile, reckless disposal of garbage and defecation on the beach by the local fishermen has added to the problem.

“The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was very cooperative about the initiative but the problem is that we haven’t found a permanent solution that can stop the garbage from accumulating on the beach. We need more a proactive discharge of workforce and efficient machines,” Ms. Tiwari said.

On the BMC’s efforts to keep the beach clean, Ashok Khairnar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, G-North Ward said, “We have deployed 24 ground staff personnel to clean Mahim beach and we will increase the number during the monsoon.” The BMC has also posted marshals to keep a check on people littering on the beach, he said. “The Mithi river is a problem that needs to be dealt with at a higher level. Our purview is to keep the Mahim area clean, which is being done.”