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Mumbai-based lawyer Afroz Shah has take up Mumbai's beaches under his wing, cleaning one beach at a time, reports Rhea Varghese Volunteers during a clean-up drive; Afroz Shah working in
a clean-up drive While mankind continues to turn a blind eye to the sufferings of the marine environment, there are warriors like Mumbai-based lawyer Afroz Shah who prove that we can make a
change. Shocked at the sight of garbage strewn across the beach, Shah, recipient of the UN Champion of The Earth award decided to take matters into his own hands. Along with his 84-year old
friend, Mr Mathur, he started the Versova beach clean-up drive in October 2015. An initiative, which began with two people, the Versova Resident Volunteers (VRV) has now grown into a team
of 50 to 200 volunteers on any given day. On stepping into the 81st week of the Versova beach clean-up drive, Afroz says, "I'm here to do my bit, but that is not enough. It is only
when people come together and do their part, that we can bring a change." People from all walks of life participate in this citizen movement and together clean the three-kilometre-long
beach in parts, for about two-three hours every Sunday. "We call it a 'date with the ocean'," says Shah, who along with his volunteers has collected over five million
kilogrammes of plastic and silt from the beach and underwater. The United Nations has labelled this movement as the biggest beach clean-up in the world. The Versova Resident Volunteers work
in sync with the ocean as they are now habituated of it's telling. Afroz says, "Sometimes the ocean pukes a lot and sometimes it doesn't, we just work with what the ocean
tells us." With the Versova beach now maintained, he plans to expand his movement to the other beaches of Mumbai. "I feel disheartened when I see our beaches, there's more
garbage and less sand," says Shah. Mumbai is a thriving city, adorned with beautiful beaches. However, today, thanks to our ignorance, our seas are in pain. "We have to stop
cribbing and come up with a solution to the problem that we ourselves have created," says Shah. Apart from regular shout-outs to provoke locals to join in, Afroz visits schools and
colleges to create an awareness among them. For Afroz, awareness means ground action, as when you do your bit like-minded people join you. He believes that a will to contribute is all that
it takes to make this world a better place.