‘Beach Please’ Campaign Completes 165-week Milestone Of Clean-up Drives In Mumbai

Water crisis in India has occurred by a combination of climate change, inefficient water usage, extensive industrialization, and inadequate infrastructure. Many experts believe that India's water scenario is expected to worsen, as the overall population is presumed to increase to 1.6 billion by the year 2050. A NITI Aayog report in 2018 stated that 600 million people, or nearly half of India's population, face severe water scarcity. It further stated that three-fourths of India's rural households do not have piped, potable water and rely on sources that pose a severe health risk. Reports suggest that almost 70% of our reservoirs are contaminated, and rivers are dying because of extensive water pollution. Amid the current water crisis, several NGOs, environmentalists & water conservationists are striving continuously to solve India's growing water scarcity. 

In the city of Mumbai lives Malhar Kalambe, a young Mumbaikar, with a mission to restore the city's water bodies. To make his mission a reality, Malhar has started the 'Beach Please' initiative along with like-minded individuals. He & his team started weekly clean-up drives to reclaim water bodies in Mumbai. What initially started as a small initiative, has gained immense support from fellow Mumbaikars today. Through the initiative, Malhar has managed to discard almost 5000 tonnes of waste from the waters of Mumbai. His efforts were lauded in 2018 by the UN with the 'volunteer for change' award, which recognized the efforts of young people who are working towards improving their community's lives. Recently, the Beach Please initiative completed a significant milestone of 165 weeks of beach clean-ups in Mumbai.

"It's been 165 weeks of the Beach Please campaign. We've managed to engage more than 1 lakh citizens over the period and cleaned over 5000 tonnes of garbage from the city's coastline in the last 165 weeks," says Malhar Kalambe, Founder, Beach Please.

Where clean & flowing water bodies are a far-fetched thought in a city like Mumbai, Water heroes like Malhar are trying to reverse the water crisis and make Mumbai a city that brims with clean water. Join the Har Ek Boond campaign & be a water hero by logging on to www.republicworld.com or give a missed call to 1800-120-887788. Let's save water & make every drop count!