Day after Chhath Puja: Students, BMC join hands to clean up Juhu beach

Devotees at Juhu beach on Thursday. Janak Rathod

STUDENTS OF Mithibai College, in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), conducted a cleanup drive at the Juhu beach, near Tulip Star on Friday, between 9 and 11 am. About 150 volunteers from the college participated in the drive. A day after the Chhath Puja was celebrated, students pitched in to pluck out the tonnes of garbage from the premises, as a part of their cultural festival Kshitij.

An annual festival, originating from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Chhath sees lakhs of people traveling from different parts of the city to the beach to worship the rising sun. However, remnants of the puja — sugarcane stalks, diyas and flowers — are later found lying on the beach premises. Miloni Gala, sub-head of the Department of Public Relations, Mithibai College, said, “We had about 150 volunteers from our college. The garbage was cleared in batches. One batch of the garbage collected was around 50 mts high and 50 mts of width. We cleaned up about five batches of garbage. We could find sugarcanes, flowers, banana peels, coconuts, plastic, among other, are thrown on the beach. People passing by the beach also joined us for the clean-up drive and helped us clean the beach. We cleaned up the portion which was allocated to us by BMC.”

Tahiba, a volunteer from Mithibai College, said, “We work with only one mantra — ‘Koi Kaam Bada Ya Chotha Nahi Hota (No job is bog or small). It’s a small step from our end.”

Sanjay Nirupam, head of the Bihari Front, which organises the Chhath Puja at Juhu Beach, and president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, said, “We usually undertake the cleaning activity ourselves but we haven’t been doing it for the last couple of years, as the BMC’s private agency had taken over the task. This is BMC’s duty. They should provide dustbins. We are being charged a Swachh Bharat Cess for cleanliness, which should be spent on such facilities.”