Mumbai is choking its natural coast guards

They risk snake bites, cuts from broken bottles and injuries with open syringes. They are our scores of mangrove cleanup workers.

As a dozen NGOs committed to cleaning up the mangroves in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) more and more muck is being drained into the sea, choking the vital plants that save the coast.

Those who conduct these clean-up operations are just a few, but those who throw the garbage are in thousands.

Official apathy, coupled with citizen irresponsibility, are leading to the tonnes of muck flowing into the creek and choking the mangroves in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai coasts, often leading to frustration among the selfless workers, NatConnect Foundation which has embarked on a campaign - #OurCityOurDuty -to educate the civic officials, citizens, government and the CSR arms of various corporates.

From chappals to mattresses, from liquor bottles to medical waste to even mattresses– the list of garbage that the mangrove sena picks up is ever unending, said Navi Mumbai-based Dharmesh Barai, who has just completed the 106th edition of the clean-up drive by his Mangrove Soldiers. As they collected a large number of liquor bottles and medical waste such as test kits and even syringes on Sunday.

The government must step in to take stern action against revellers who have their parties in the open on the seashores and leave the muck in the sea, said NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar who has been monitoring the cleanup drives.

Mangroves are not only the frontline soldiers protecting the coasts from tidal attacks and storms, but they also are inexpensive rain forests as they grow on their own. Apart from serving as breeding grounds for a variety of fish and crabs, mangroves act as carbon sinks and their entangled roots work as meshes to prevent muck from flowing into the sea, NatConnect pointed out to the government.

According to a press statement, the State Mangrove Cell signed MoUs with eight NGOs for the clean-up drive. “We are collecting data,” said Virendra Tiwari, Additional Principal Chief Conservator Of Forests.

Mangrove soldiers collected some 800 kg of liquor bottles this Sunday alone. Thus, the garbage that is collected at the 12 odd points could be as much as 10 to 12 tonnes a week or close to 50 tonnes a month.

“Apart from the garbage dumps on the coasts, the open nalas are also to blame for the garbage killing our mangroves,” lamented Nandakumar Pawar of Vanashakti which has been conducting the clean-up operation every alternative Sunday for the past 14 years at Bhandup pumping station and other places.