While we take pride in our country’s diversity of cultures and the festivals it celebrates, we seldom stop to think how adversely it affects our environment. Be it causing air and noise pollution by bursting crackers on Diwali, wasting tons of water on Holi or intoxicating our water bodies for Ganpati Visarjan. Today marks the last day of the Ganpati festival, which is especially grand in Mumbai. Most of us will be so merry in celebration that we may end up completely disregarding the environment, more so our beaches that will be full of debris comprising of flowers, plastic bags, garlands and sweet offerings made to the Hindu god by hundreds of devotees.
‘Over 7,600 Ganesh idols installed at public places and more than one lakh idols in homes will be immersed today, reported NDTV’. The worst affected is always the Juhu Beach, which is one of the biggest spots for Ganpati Visarjan in the city. The youth wing of Lions Club, the Leo Club is organizing a huge clean up drive on the Juhu Beach on September 6 to rid the 1 km stretch of all the toxic waste that has and will accumulate over it, today. Many NGO’s, colleges and social institutions will partake in this event.
The immersion of idols in the sea results in the clogging of beaches and while many people have started using eco-friendly ganpatis, the strata of people who use the non-biodegradable ones still remains higher. The nirmalya and other items of adornment also result in the degradation of the environment. Rajan Jogi (24) , President of Leo Club told Homegrown that Environmental Protection is one of their key areas of focus. “This is why we organize beach clean up drives every year where many Mumbaikars join us to make the beach clean again.” he says.
The organizers will be providing gloves, masks and bags to the volunteers who would be expected to manually pick up the waste thereafter which the debris will be taken away in trucks by the civic body for further segregation.
It is time to make amends for all the waste we have generated. The Juhu Beach Clean Up Drive will take place on September 6, from 5.30 am onwards. The entry to the event is free. Call 9773847303 for more details.
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