A man named Dhiraj Parab is doing a very unusual job for almost a month now. The 42-year-old environmental activist single-handedly cleaning the Jesel Park’s rill in Bhayander (East) every morning. But on weekends he got the hands of senior citizens and students in his campaign or cause. Dhiraj has been doing all this for 27 days straight.

“I will carry on with the clean-up whether anyone joins me or not. People should take up such initiatives in their respective localities,” said Parab who also bought gloves and gumboots so that he can go deep in the river for cleaning. He started this mission of cleaning the park September 9 and every morning for 2 hours, the man cleans it with some helping hands. He is a resident of Balaji Nagar, east Bhayander.

Parab who is also a freelance journalist said, “The municipality has been spending crores on the so-called per-monsoon nullah-cleaning and beautification of the Chowpatty. But nothing is being done about the destruction caused by the massive dumping of waste in natural water bodies”.

Parab also revealed he found plastics, bags which contained outdated medicines, commodes, furniture and beddings. He said, “The number of jeans and saris dumped into the creek also came as a surprise to me”. Also, he is educating people about the proper disposal of old belongings is the need of these days looking at the atmosphere’s condition.

As said by Parab, he somehow managed to remove 100 tonnes of garbage from the creek or small river. Later that garbage is picked up by the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation. Vijay Patil, a retired assistant municipal commissioner, who is also a resident of Jesal Park, has joined the clean-up exercise on a few occasions and “spread the good word” among locals.

Parab has petitioned the wetlands case filed by NGO Vanashakti in the Bombay high court. He had also filed an application in the court on behalf of the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) on mangroves destruction in Mira-Bhayander.

Published by Soniya Kaur on 07 Oct 2018