Navi Mumbai residents complete 200 weekends of cleaning mangroves

NAVI MUMBAI: The Vashi based group of nature lovers, Mangrove Marshalls, has completed a milestone of 200 weekends of regularly cleaning up the coastline and the mangrove forests in and around the Sagar Vihar area of Vashi.
Talking to Mirror, a Mangrove Marshalls member, Rohitt Malhotra, said: ``We are happy that we have consistently met every Saturday to clean up the trash from inside the mangroves at Vashi. Ours is purely a group of citizens who volunteer to dedicate around three hours of their time every Saturday to meet at the coast and clean up the mangroves.''
Last Saturday, during their 200th mangroves cleanup, the former MP and NMMC mayor, Sanjeev Naik, joined the Mangroves Marshalls to carry out the cleaning operation.
``You will be surprised what all is dumped into the sea, which eventually gets entangled into the mangroves. We have removed mattresses, clothes, shoes, even toilet seats and loads of plastic trash like bottles, bags etc. Through our volunteering work, we want to send out a message to all that one should not use the mangroves or our Thane sea creek as a `dustbin'. Because eventually, the rubbish that we throw into the sea will come back to us along the coast,'' said Malhotra.
At the 200th weekend, Sanjeev Naik also appreciated the dedicated work done by the nature lovers of Mangrove Marshalls.
This movement started in 2017 and over the years they have removed over 330 truck loads of waste from the mangroves in Vashi.
Mangrove Marshalls is a citizen’s volunteering initiative undertaking weekly clean-up drives and removing organic and inorganic debris from the mangrove forests in Vashi area.
``We also engage in advocacy in sensitising and educating the communities including school children about the importance of Mangroves and their impact on marine ecology and human health, waste management at source etc.'' said another group member.
``We would like to thank all our supporters including Citizen Volunteers, NSS Students, College Students, School Students, Volunteers from corporates like Bajaj Electricals, Tata Teleservices Ltd, LTI Mindtree etc, NMMC officials and Safai Karamcharis for assisting us in this green endeavour,'' added Malhotra.
Elsewhere in Navi Mumbai, another group of `Mangrove Soldiers' led by environmentalist, Dharmesh Barai, has also been consistently cleaning up the garbage from mangroves at other places like the Palm Beach Road, and other parts of Thane and Raigad.
The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) often lends a helping hand to such cleanup groups by providing their garbage trucks, and ground staff to take away the trash removed from the mangroves.