Mumbai: In a bid to tackle plastics from entering the sea, Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray was joined by more than 300 Mumbaikars at Carter Road beach for a clean up drive on Saturday afternoon. The drive backed by Thackeray, was a joint initiative of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the State Bank of India, as staffers from both the entities took part in the event. Participating volunteers also comprised students from schools and colleges.
The trashes were collected in tractors, which was later disposed off. Aaditya, who is known for raising awareness on waste management and environment conservation had earlier participated in similar clean-up drives, raised concern about the increase marine littering and growing garbage disposal in the city's coastline and its effect on the disruption of the marine ecosystem. “As citizens, we need to be responsible first. Even if we use plastics, we should use them responsibly as plastics are the main reason behind drainage choking,” said Aaditya.
Aaditya shared his sentiments for the family of the two-year-old toddler, Divyansh Singh, who earlier on Thursday fell into the gutter, outside his Goregaon (E) residence and whose body is yet to be retrieved. “The incident is really unfortunate and I will look into the matter, I am sure the authorities will call for an inquiry and penalise the ones responsible for the negligence,” said the Yuva Sena chief.
Earlier on Friday, the father Suraj Singh alleged the BMC’s negligence and demanded the mayor's resignation. Hindi film actress, Esha Gupta was also present during the clean-up drive. “This clean-up drive is just a small step towards transforming the maximum city into a better state,” said Esha.
