On July 12 and 13, over 9 metric tonnes of garbage was spewed by the Arabian Sea onto Mumbai’s most iconic promenade — Marine Drive. This was due to the abnormally high tide. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) deployed 30 labourers to manually clean the promenade.
According to Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner (A ward), BMC,
“In July and August, high tide brings garbage from the sea onto the Marine Drive on four to five days. The garbage washes onto a 900-metre stretch between the Intercontinental Hotel and Princess Street Flyover. Yesterday, we had collected one tonne of garbage but today, it increased to nine metric tonnes”
He added,
“This is nature’s way of throwing back everything that we throw into it. The BMC is working on implementing the ban on single-use plastic. Residents also need to stop using plastic and switch to its alternatives. It is time that people learn to stop throwing waste into the nullahs and dispose them scientifically. The nullahs are meant for sewerage and not to throw garbage.”
Some of the garbage that was washed ashore contained plastic and glass bottles, as well as thermocol. Mumbai generates over 7,000 tonnes of garbage every day, a significant amount of which ends up on the metropolis’ beaches. Last year, environmental activist Afroz Shah sparked off a campaign to clean Mumbai’s Versova’s beach after which, this year, 80 Olive Ridley turtles hatched eggs on the beach after 20 years.
