Not everyone will have devotion towards country. Most of the people keep tags beside their profiles saying, “I am proud Indian” but when it comes to reality most of the people afraid to come forward for good cause.
Here I am talking about the authorities who don’t support the common people when they voluntarily come forward to offer their services to the nation. MLA’s and MP’s of the state never mind about the common people concerns. And I don’t know for whom they are.
Afroz Shah, a Mumbai-based lawyer took up an initiative in cleaning up the largest beach in Mumbai in October 2015. Along with some other volunteers he has been cleaning the city’s Versova Beach for 109 weeks.
But now he gave up. After he announced in the tweet, the cleaning work came to halt.
Week 109 cleanup.Volunteers abused by goons for picking up garbage.Administrative lethargy,non clearance of picked up garbage and abuses is what we are https://t.co/ydEzp638C6 largest beach cleanup is suspended.Tried my best and I failed.Forgive me my ocean and my country. pic.twitter.com/XdFJMfZNeV
— Afroz Shah (@AfrozShah1) November 19, 2017
In his tweet, he said that “non-clearance of picked up garbage and abuses by goons” is what led to the campaign getting stopped after almost two years.
The work he has done so far is really appreciable.
So far, the 108 week of clean-up went well. Until January, about 4300 tons of plastic had been removed from Versova beach.
And 40 tons of waste was pulled out by volunteers from 12 countries.
They also help in cleaning toilets for the people living in slums. United Nations recognized his effort and awarded him the Champions of the Earth award.
But now, he gave up on his two-year-old campaign.
The authorities are denying to pick up the waste that has been gathered and kept for collection by them. And they are facing problem with goons who are not allowing them to clean the beach. Women workers have been chased with sticks. No action was taken even though complaints were made.
Afroz Shah said,” I have failed, I am sorry to have let people down but I have failed”. He said that his team was at loggerheads with the authorities for almost 6 weeks now.
“It is very difficult to scavenge waste from the beach,” he says.
Afroz says that there are certain people who would sit on the beach and drink and cause a ruckus. They would litter the beach and would hurl abuses when somebody would try to clean it up.
He said, “We have collected nine million kgs of waste. We all struggled, the infrastructure was there but if some people are not willing to clean our oceans then there is no way out.”
“I told them if you cannot help at least say ‘Thank You’ for cleaning”. We have struggled; we have been cleaning up other people’s garbage without complaining. And in return we are abused and threatened”, he said.
MLA Bharti Lavhekar and Versova corporator Yogiraj Dabhadkar said immediate action would be taken and a meeting with Afroz Shah would be scheduled to find a solution to the problem.
When someone is trying to do good, why all other people (includes both fellow citizens and authorities) don’t help?
Don’t you guys want to see clean India? Or you want to give your future generations a garbage India as an ancestral property?
What is your reaction towards this incident? Isn’t this a negligence of authorities and fellow citizens? Share us in the comments. You can see the pics which shows how Afroz Shah transformed dirtiest beach to cleanest.
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