Mumbai: Inspired by the example of Afroz Shah and volunteers who successfully cleaned up Mumbai’s Versova Beach, residents of Kihim Beach and Kamat village in Alibag, about 120km from the financial hub, have also cleaned up a stretch of the local beach and collected 1,000 bags of rubbish.
But now they are stumped as to how to dispose of the trash, as there is no disposal system, in the tourist town visited by thousands of Mumbaikars on weekends and during holidays.
Disturbed by the looming garbage before them, Sumaira Abdul Ali, a conservationist, has made a fervent appeal to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
“We very urgently request your personal intervention to let us know where and how garbage collected by us from a public beach in Kihim should be disposed off, before the monsoon rain washes it back into the sea and/or contaminates private land unsuitable for garbage landfill,” Abdul Ali wrote in a letter to Fadnavis.
The garbage collected consists mainly of plastic and thermocole and will have to be segregated and disposed at an authorised location, she said.
“In the meantime, it is accumulated on my family’s private property in Kihim.”
Inquiries with the Alibag administration and locals have confirmed that there is no official garbage disposal policy or site in Alibag, she told Gulf News.
“No garbage collection takes place and no designated area is available. Household garbage is burnt or dumped along roadsides. I have observed such dumping at Chondi Naka, along the Awas-Sasawane Road, on the Mandwa-Alibag Road and at numerous other locations. It is common to see garbage, mostly plastic, burning at these places, too.”
Further, residents of Alibag city dump construction waste and other non-inflammable material in the city centre, next to Raigad Bazaar where mangroves have been cleared to form an open space.
In her letter to Fadnavis, she wrote, “No arrangements for garbage collection are available at most of the Gram Panchayat villages including Kihim. We are unable to locate the designated garbage segregation/disposal site for Alibag area.”
Kihim beach, a well-known tourist destination, is part of the Alibag area which consists of several beautiful beaches.
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has well-advertised facilities on Kihim beach, which, unfortunately, suffers from regular oil spills, accumulated garbage for decades and chemical pollution. “It has apparently never been cleaned! The district administration states they ‘cannot plan’ for large quantities of garbage.”
The MTDC, too, while enjoying the commercial benefits of this place has made no arrangements to clean the beach or dispose off the garbage collected.
This is a matter of great concern, she wrote to the chief minister, and also urged him for a long-term plan and sustainable system for beach cleaning garbage disposal system in Alibag.