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Mumbai’s very own Poisar river, amongst many others, has been subjected to years worth of misuse and pollution. What used to be a body of clear natural water is now an urban stream for industrial dumps and trash from surrounding slums. And a concerned group of activists was getting increasingly frustrated with the accumulating waste that had been left completely unattended.
River March is a Mumbai based group that is best described as an open community of people who work together in making their city a a sustainable and cleaner environment. Founded in December 2012, by Tejas Shah and Gopal Zaveri, the River March is a non-registered group of individuals who meet regularly on the weekends to plan and execute projects towards improving the city’s environmental conditions.
We spoke to Mr. Tejas Shah - a medical researcher, an environmental conservationist on the weekends and one of the co-founders of the group - as news spread of his incredible initiative and work, especially on the Posai river. “We didn’t exactly start with cleaning rivers. We used to walk in the mornings, at the Borivali National Park, and we happened to see a dead deer. And later, we were informed that the deer had died because of high levels of plastic in its stomach. That’s when Gopal (Zaveri) and I decided to work towards making the national park completely plastic-free,” he explains. This initiative resulted in the removal of 80,000 kgs of plastic from the park, which received large amounts of recognition from the public and the government as well.
[Side note: Their cycle project is also the reason why we can rent cycles in the national park]
The River March came to life when the duo took notice of the rancid conditions of the river that flowed out of the national park. “You could see the difference in 50 mts. So that’s when we started working on the rivers. A lot of people joined the initiative and in 2016, we did work across all the four rivers, with around 17,000 people participate. And last year we had a two-part event; where on the first day we held a Dahisar river utsav, following which we had a march on the second day, where over 15,000 people participated.” said Tejas, on the rapid growth the group is currently experiencing. He also informed us about the weekly meet-ups the group holds, where they discuss future plans, discuss ongoing policies and environmental conditions, and carry out cleaning projects across the city.
“We’re trying to tell Mumbaikars that these are rivers, and not dumping grounds. We persistently encourage people to join and we even involve schools in our projects. And in the last five Sundays, we’ve been successful in removing 1.47 lakh kgs of waste from the river Posai,” said Tejas. It was apparent during an initial round of surveys that were carried out by the group, the Posai river was was choked with around a thousand tonnes of plastic waste and garbage, from both industrial and domestic outlets.
With a team of 150 people, the River March sought help from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which was responsible for aiding the clean-up with workers and machinery. As a result of the project, an entire stretch of the river in Kandivali is now clearer than it has ever been in decades, according to a report by the The Better India. Unfortunately, the problem doesn’t stop there. Mr. Shah was able inform us of the local government’s plans to concretise the river bed, which could lead to serious repercussions concerning ground water levels and the river possibly drying up as a result of the plan’s approval.
“We are protesting against the project, even as the work has started. But we at the end of the day, we don’t do this for anyone else but ourselves. We don’t ask for for any money or remuneration. But we do have a lot of support, whether it’s from the public or our partnerships with other companies and organisations.”
Their achievement is definitely a call for celebration and they are clearly just getting started. “It’s really not that complex. It’s as simple as people being conscious of not throwing plastics, and before you know it, Mumbai will be one of the top eco-friendly cities,” he finishes.
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Feature image via Bitgiving
