Cleanup drive at Miramar beach

Around 25 Goans volunteered to clean up Miramar beach during a

cleanup drive

initiated by

Gaurav Pokle

on August 27. The sea was spewing

garbage

that was being dumped over the months, and a lot of it was collected on the shoreline. When he realised it, he decided to host a cleanup drive and asked a few friends to join in. The drive wasn't promoted since they wanted to avoid crowding, during the

pandemic

. The volunteers were requested to wear a mask and follow COVID-19 guidelines to ensure everyone's safety.

They got together around 3.30 pm on Thursday evening and managed to collect over 35 bags of garbage that included a lot of glass bottles, plastic caps, plastic bags and a few religious items like a part of

PoP Ganesha

, and more. "Most of the time it's common to find bottles, plastic, packets and so on. But in addition to that, this time we found a murthi of Shankar, a hand of a Ganpoati idol, lots of garlands and flowers. Many people have a belief that these are offered to god, but he has actually rejected it and sent it back," says Gaurav.