How Mumbai made a beach out of nowhere | Mumbai News

Mahim beach turns sandy againSand has returned to the erstwhile rocky and decrepit Mahim beach. Mismanagement over the years had made the area a dumping ground. But now things are changing. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has transported sand from the existing Mahim beach to cover 30,000sq ft of land on the coastline at Mahim Reti Bunder area. The civic body has already covered the area with a foot of sand, and plans to raise the height of sand cover by another two feet. medium78928833Attention was brought to the neglected state of the area by Mumbai couple Indranil Sengupta and Rabia Tewari, who kick started the Mahim beach clean-up campaign around three years ago. With calls to BMC at the time to clear up the garbage proving futile, the couple decided to take charge themselves. From September 2017 onwards, the duo worked relentlessly to clean up the area. They were joined in by other Mahim residents and members of the Koli community who live in the area, as well as volunteers. Thanks to their efforts, over 1,000 tonnes of garbage was removed. As a result, the area began drawing not just beachgoers, but also migratory birds that started flocking to the area.Soon, the BMC began to take notice, and in January this year, the beautification drive for Mahim beach officially took off. "It is very encouraging for us as citizens who have been working here for many years," Sengupta said at the time. To beautify the area and for ecological reasons, the corporation has planted 250 suru trees on the beach, which are suitable for sandy soil near the seashore. The trees not only control soil erosion, but also fix atmospheric nitrogen and act as a wind breaker during cyclones. Over 1,100 trees will be planted in total. Besides the 250 suru trees, 200 chafa trees, 350 tecoma and 350 bamboo trees will also be planted on the beach. “This will be the first of its kind plantation on a beach,” said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner, G (north) ward. He also said that sand from the existing beach is being screened and sieved before being deposited on Reti Bunder. medium78927165All kinds of encroachment had taken place in the area, including the illegal parking of trucks and water tankers. The area of the beach that is being reclaimed was earlier used by bamboo vendors for various commercial activities, which resulted in a lot of waste lying around. “There was a natural beach in Mahim. But over time, there was encroachment and the beach got lost in the process from Mahim Fort to Mahim Koliwada,” said Dighavkar. “Giving the beach back to the locals was important to increase tourism value of the locality.” medium78927198The beach renovation project, estimated to be around Rs 4 crore, has been designed by Raj Mudra Architects and Landscape designers. “The objective of the resurrection of the beach is to safeguard the area from encroachment and illegal activities and to create a secure premise which will aid economic growth of the immediate surroundings and the locals. Visitors will also enjoy the panoramic view of the Mahim Bay with the Bandra-Worli Sealink in the background,” said Mudra.The proposed plan comprises of construction of a retaining wall, watchtower, promenade, pathway, bamboo fencing, art work, construction of storm water drain line and electrical work. Dighavkar added, “We got all the permissions from Mumbai Port Trust and Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority. The work was hit due to the lockdown so the deadline was extended but it will be completed in a couple of months.” medium78927332Sengupta and Tewari welcomed the civic body’s work. “We are happy to know that after three years of our consistent groundwork and campaigning for a cleaner Mahim beach, it is finally getting its due from the authorities. As Mahim residents, we welcome this effort taken at Mahim Reti-bunder so that locals can enjoy the beach and escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We hope that this will also help solve the problem of open defecation which is prevalent at Reti-bunder. It is important that a permanent solution is put in place for the waste accumulating daily on Mahim beach in order to sustain this beautification effort,” said the couple. medium nocaption78874783Juhu beach, Versova beach, Marine Drive cleaner thanks to lockdownWhile Mahim beach gets a facelift, the lockdown proved to be a boon for Juhu beach, with residents saying the beach was cleaner than it has been at any point in the past 20 years. Dr BS Avasthi, senior pediatrician and managing director of Surya Hospital, said every monsoon the sea throws back a huge amount of garbage, but this time, thanks to the lockdown, the usually littered beach remained clean. Every monsoon, especially in July, the entire Juhu beach is littered with tonnes of garbage thrown back by the sea. We literally have to walk through plastic," Dr Avasthi said. medium78927498He added that before this year, the amount of garbage returned by the sea had been increasing every monsoon. "For the past couple of years the volume of garbage was going up. BMC staff kept cleaning the stretch and again but the same amount of garbage would come back every time. However, this year the beach is clean. Even during high tide there is hardly any garbage on the entire stretch. Us Juhu residents are so happy to see the difference. We hope all beaches in the city will become and remain clean forever," he said.Environmentalist Afroz Shah, known for organising the world's largest beach clean-up project at Versova, estimated that there was 60 to 70 per cent less trash there this year. "While cleaning Versova beach I didn't find any Covid-related waste such as masks, gloves and PPE kits, which means people are dumping these properly. The trash that washed ashore included plastic bottles, wrappers, thermocol, rubber slippers and shoes," he said. "It is obvious that people are still throwing garbage into the sea in violation of civic rules. But since fewer people are going out, there is less trash. Also, as per my observations 80 per cent of the waste here comes from the creek nullah, where the amount of waste has also gone down."Two years ago, following a massive cleanliness campaign at Versova beach, Olive Ridley turtles were spotted in Mumbai for the first time in two decades. Environmentalists credited the citizen-driven initiative to clean up what used to be one of Mumbai's most polluted beaches for their return. medium78927529Marine Drive too has been sporting a cleaner look this year. Last year, images of trash thrown back onto the promenade during the monsoon had flooded social media. The BMC said the sea had returned about 50 metric tonnes of garbage to the city at Marine Drive alone. But this year the situation was different, with much less garbage for the sea to throw back, resulting in a far cleaner promenade. medium78927612Environment activists, however, warned against celebrating too soon. Malhar Kalambe, an activist from the group Beach Please, which helps keep beaches clean, said, "Many beaches such as those at Bandra and Dadar are still not clean. Cleaning of the Mithi river and nullah cleaning work have not been completed yet. This will result in more trash coming back to us from the sea."Inputs from TNN