With devotees immersing Ganpati idols into the sea, the sandy beaches of Mumbai get filled with dilapidated idols returned to the shore. To keep the city’s beaches clean during this festival, a team of green warriors has been organising special beach cleanup drives during the immersion days of Ganesh Chaturthi and has removed thousands of dilapidated idols in the last seven years.
Beach Warriors is a group of green activists which has been carrying out weekly beach cleanup drives at various beaches of Mumbai. However, since the cleanup campaign started with the realisation of the need to clean the beach during Ganesha Chaturthi, the group continues to specially organise extensive cleanups during this festival every year.
Chinu Kwatra (34), a marketing professional and a social media influencer, started Beach Warriors in 2017 when he decided to replicate other organisations’ cleanup drives along with his friends. Being a staunch devotee of Lord Ganesha, Kwatra decided to move the dilapidated idols from the beach after Ganesha visarjan. He along with his two friends initiated a cleanup at Dadar beach and were joined by young college students. On a professor’s guidance, Kwatra decided to turn the one-time cleanup drive into a weekly initiative.
Beach Warrior carrying out weekly beach cleanup drives at various beaches of Mumbai | FPJ/ Dhairya Gajara
Beach Warrior carrying out weekly beach cleanup drives at various beaches of Mumbai | FPJ/ Dhairya Gajara
Beach Warrior carrying out weekly beach cleanup drives at various beaches of Mumbai | FPJ/ Dhairya Gajara
Kwatra said, “i being a staunch devotee was bringing Ganpatti Bappa home for over 25 years and I could not see people leaving the idols in such a condition after worshipping them for days. As I started posting my cleanup pictures showing the broken idols on the social media, people labelled me as anti-Hindu but all of it turned into motivation and it has been seven years and we have carried out over 350 weekly cleanups with special attention during Ganesha Chaturthi.”
In the last seven years, Beach Warriors has cleaned over 4,000 tonnes of waste from the Dadar, Prabhadevi and Juhu Koliwada. Along with beach cleanup, the group also involves in Visarjan Sewa on immersion days by collecting worship materials from the devotees and preventing them from entering the sea. This year, the group is planning to collaborate with a recycler in Nashik to recycle the plaster of paris (POP) used in the idols and turn them into seating benches.
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Kwatra says that awareness has increased in the last seven years with the number of idols being immersed into the sea have decreased from an approximate figure of 450 idols in a single day to less than 100 idols. “The number of POP idols being immersed in the sea has decreased but it has not stopped. Especially the bigger idols have no other option. We used to come across a lot of dead marine life during our post-visarjan cleanups, which has decreased now. Definitely, awareness among devotees has increased but there is a lot to be change,” Kwatra said.
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