‘Jallosh-Clean Coasts’ to clean Mumbai’s coastline & water bodies

MUMBAI: “Jallosh-Clean Coasts”, a three-day nonprofit initiative of ‘Project Mumbai’ to address the issue of domestic waste choking water bodies. Project Mumbai is an effort to identify challenges and issues that people face and to look for their solutions. Jallosh –Clean Coasts will be held on June 1, 2 and will conclude on June 5, the World Environment Day. This initiative aims to clean beaches, but also, simultaneously draw citizen volunteers to all the four river- bodies of Mumbai.

The initiative is being supported by several award-winning groups, including Mahim Beach Clean Up, Beach Warriors, Beach Please, River March, World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature just to name a few.

Mumbai’s Girgaon Chowpatty, the beach stretches along Worli, Dadar, Mahim, Bandra, Versova, Juhu and Madh will be the focus areas for the cleanliness drive, while Poisor, Mithi, Oshiwara and Dahisar rivers would witness the riverbanks being cleaned of waste.

Local communities will also be involved in the initiative. The effort will be focused on educating, informing and taking actions throughout the cleanliness drive.

Project Mumbai’s efforts will be collated in the form of a report and submitted to various state agencies for follow-up action like the Government of Maharashtra, the MCGM, the MMRDA as well as the ULBs in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

River March, a volunteering group which has been relentlessly campaigning for cleaner rivers of Mumbai said, “Most people in Mumbai are not even aware of the existence of three rivers flowing through the city, the fourth being Mithi, which came into notice after Mumbai’s deluge over a decade ago. Industrial waste, encroachment and negligence have led to an acute environmental crisis that Mumbai is facing and most of us are unaware of It. It is high time for us to do something by joining our hands.”

During the cleanliness program, different groups will also grip support and interactive learning sessions on flora and fauna and will be engaged in educating people on not just safe-keeping and maintenance of the beaches, but also protecting the marine life, sea creatures and the mangroves. This will be driven by WWF for Nature, which will circulate reading material to the volunteers who will assist during operation ‘Jallosh-Clean Coasts’.

The collaborating teams along with Project Mumbai will also draw up an action plan for a sustained effort to beautify, maintain and subsequently adopt these locations for a cleaner and better Mumbai.

The volunteering opportunity is open to individuals, corporates, colleges and schools, non-profit voluntary bodies, youth groups, young and old.