Dadar Beach sees the city's first 'beach-a-thon' for cleanliness

On World Earth Day in April, over 1,000 Mumbaikars and a few celebrities had swung into action to clean

Dadar

Beach. And recently, too city folks came out in huge numbers for the ‘first mini

beach

cleanup

marathon

’ inspired by

plogging

(picking up litter and jogging) – called a Beach-a-thon. It marked the 50th week of the clean-up at Dadar Beach.
Chinu Kwtara, mentored by Professor Indu Mehta, has been cleaning Dadar Beach since the last 11 months. Says Chinu, “With this event, we wanted people to get involved to spread the message of #NoLittering and #MeraKachraMeriZimmedari. We used the concept of a marathon merged with

cleanliness

, with the tagline ‘Lets Pick & Run’.”


Running with a purpose

They didn't just run to finish the marathon, but stopped all along the route to pick up trash from the sands

The action took off by 6.45 am. Mumbaikars gathered behind

Kirti College

and they got a small briefing on the motive of the beach-a-thon. “It was not just a marathon. It was where people had to pick up litter from the sand as they ran, which gave them a sense of belonging,” he adds.

The group took off on the route from behind Kirti College, Dadar right up to

Prabhadevi

Beach. “People of all ages came by to take part and it was heartening to see the support. People certainly took the clean-up very seriously and were not participating to win, but to clean the beach. So, the motive was not simply to run the stretch the reach the destination,” Chinu explains.

Kirti Kulhari lends a hand

Actress Kirti Kulhari came by around 8 am, post the beach-a-thon. He says, “Kirti was travelling from Goregaon after a shoot so she came by to support the movement and was happy to join in the cleanliness drive, too. She also launched the 'Go Green Ganesha Challenge'.”