Flamingos return to mangrove area after youth remove 7,000 kg of trash

The indicator of the success comes from the fact that many birds including flamingos can be seen in the area

A small group of nature lovers teamed up to launch a big initiative and removed as much as 7,000 kg of garbage from a critical mangrove area in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai.

The trash in the Karave mangrove area, off the T S Chanakya, the maritime training establishment at Nerul in Navi Mumbai, was cleaned up thanks to the initiative of Dharmesh Barai, the founder and honorary head coordinator of Environment Life.

Barai, along with two founder-volunteers of Mangroves Clean Up Drive – Rohan Bhosale and Sriram Shankar – started the initiative, and today they have 90 members, who are known as MangroveSoldiers.

What is commendable is that the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has joined the Environment Life initiative in Karave mangroves spread over 8,000 sq mt.

“We started off on 15 August and in nearly three months removed garbage to the tune of seven tons…what we have done is small but the support that we got from people is tremendous,” Barai told DH on Thursday.

Barai, a trekker, nature and wildlife lover, has been cleaning waterfalls and places around it over the last several years.

The Karave initiative, which was launched during the Covid-19 lockdown/unlock period, has earned accolades in the Mumbai metropolitan region and it has shown the way for several others.

Asked about the cleanup drive, Barai said: “We found footwear, medical waste, mercury bulbs, tube lights, liquor bottles, syringes, wafer packets, packaged water bottles and spoons, among other things, which had made their way through the creek and got stuck in the roots of mangroves trees.”

After the work was known in social media, NMMC’s deputy municipal commissioner Dr Babasaheb Rajale, who heads the solid waste management department, personally spoke to him and assured support and joined them. Thereafter, Assistant Commissioner of Belapur A ward Shashikant Tandel and Rajendra Sonawane, who looks after the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', joined them.

“We all must think to protect marine biodiversity. We don’t have the right to pollute oceans and creeks with our bad habits…it is not a dumping yard,” Barai said, adding that Environment Life has already zeroed in another location for a clean-up drive.