Beach warriors complete six years of cleaning Dadar, Juhu beaches; Babil Khan joins cause

Ever since, Kwatra and the team that started clean-up from Dadar beach later expanded to six more locations like Cuffe Parade, Bandra, Worli, Madh, Erangal, Juhu-Koliwada during pre-Covid days. Post covid, their clean-up activity has been restricted to only Dadar and Juhu Koliwada beaches

Mumbai: Inspired by lawyer Afroz Shah, who spearheaded the Versova beach clean-up, Chinu Kwatra and his team started a drive to protect the marine life of Dadar-Prabhadevi beach which was being systematically ravaged by pollutants. Today, they are celebrating a milestone with six years of unceasing work that also includes cleaning and beautifying the walls around the beach.

Beach warriors complete six years of cleaning Dadar, Juhu beaches; Babil Khan joins cause

In order to celebrate their success and to amplify their cause, actor Irrfan Khan’s son Babil Khan of ‘Friday Night Plan’ fame from Netflix joined Kwatra on September 3.

Kwatra and his core team of 40 members have completed 293 cleanups in the last six years and prevented almost 4,000 tonnes of plastic from entering the ocean.

Kwatra’s journey first began on September 3, 2017, when he sought inspiration from Shah’s initiative on Versova beach. “The nearest beach for me was Dadar as I stay in Thane. So, I went to Dadar with 10 friends and did a cleanup, but my college professor Indu Mehta (from Welingkar Institute of Management), who was a mentor for beach warriors advised me that this cannot be a one-day activity. The moment I saw the beach on that day, I understood why she said it,” said Kwatra.

He then decided to continue it on next weekend, but that cleanup looked like a big failure as only two of his friends joined and the rest backed out. “When we three started the cleanup, a bunch of college students chilling at the beach enquired about the clean-up and joined hands. I felt it could be a movement if we approached more students. We haven’t stopped since then,” he added.

Ever since, Kwatra and the team that started clean-up from Dadar beach later expanded to six more locations like Cuffe Parade, Bandra, Worli, Madh, Erangal, Juhu-Koliwada during pre-Covid days. Post covid, their clean-up activity has been restricted to only Dadar and Juhu Koliwada beaches.

Commenting on the challenges, Kwatra said that in the early days it was not easy to convince and gather volunteers to work that included picking up garbage and that too for free.

“Another one was the mindset of people who trolled us every now and then for doing it. I was also always questioned why I didn’t do it in Thane instead of Dadar. I was always considered an underdog. In fact, we are still in the same frame. I have been recognised internationally more than nationally,” said Kwatra.

Kwatra elaborated that the other challenge was BMC’s support to dumping collected garbage in the very initial days. “I didn’t know whom to talk or where to talk but later with the intervention of Aaditya Thackeray (when he joined the cleanup) things became easy,” he said.

Till date, Kwatra has received the support of more than a lakh Mumbaiites for saving tonnes of plastic from entering the ocean. “I’m at peace when I know when I’m doing my bit for the environment. But I also wish to do more as I have the support of 1000s of youth with me. I wish to reach the delegates of central ministry, Advisory of G20 and all such panels to share my ground journey and spread the word to other cities and states,” said Kwatra who has received several awards like ‘Hero of Swachh India.’