Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Prabhadevi Nagar organised a beach clean up on 16th February 2020 in two areas: Dadar Chowpatty and Prabhadevi beach in Mumbai. The beach clean up began at 8:00 am and concluded by 10:00 am on both the beaches.
A total of 50 volunteers from RSS, Bajrang Dal and NSS units from local colleges attended the program. Many locals who saw the volunteers working at the beach also decided to join the activity, and stayed for the national anthem at the end of the program to conclude.
Despite them giving a notice to the BMC a week in advance, the BMC officials had arrived late for the program with their equipment; prompting the volunteers to use nothing but their glove-protected hands for the activity, making the program longer than expected. The beach was filled with garbage and it was evident that it hadn’t been maintained.
The lack of baskets to carry the garbage (that was supposed to be provided by BMC) made the volunteers bend down to pick up the small pieces of plastic multiple times, which increased the time taken to finish the program. There were many pieces of glass that were found shattered on the beach, because of which there was a risk of injury. There were several spots on the beach where human excreta was found, despite a public toilet being within a 100m radius from the beach. There was a concern that the biological waste could have caused infection to the volunteers if they came in direct contact with the waste.
How the students came up with the idea:
The college students in their routine weekly meetings came up with the idea of organising a beach clean up after one of its members decided to take a stroll in the Prabhadevi beach, who noticed that the beach was filled with garbage that was thrown back by the sea during the high tide.The event concluded at 10:00 am in a compound near Kirti College in Dadar (W), wherebreakfast and tea was served. National anthem was sung after refreshments.
