DOWNTOWNPLUS:CMCA -Mum schools kids paticipated in beach cleaning duringganpati immersion:Sept 18,08

1,000 school kids from 10 Mumbai schools participated in beach cleaning during Ganpati immersion. Sonu Bohra gets you the details …….Sonu Bohra 

Lord Ganpati came and went, but for some children in the city, their job began only post-visarjan when they got busy clearing the mess at the beaches. In Mumbai every year more than one and half lakh Ganpati idols are immersed in 50 immersion points. “The idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP), toxic metals, and coated with deadly paints containing mercury, cadmium, lead and carbon, also find their way into human bodies when they consume fish and other sea food,” informs Vinodini Lulla, Chief Co-ordinator of Children’s movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA).

While the drive to have green Ganpati idols gained momentum this year, more than 95 per cent of the idols immersed in the sea would have contained these poisonous chemicals and continue to pose a health hazard.

This year, CMCA worked very closely with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). To create awareness for this larger cause, more than 1,000 school children, from ten schools started beach cleaning activities along with CMCA volunteers on September 9 and 15.

“We collected about 100 huge sacks of garbage.  This included broken idols, flowers, flower garlands, coconuts, decoration material, slippers, syringes, plastics, bottles and cloth.  We also collected several framed photographs of Ganpatis, Shirdi Saibaba, etc,” informs Lulla.

Monday saw a bunch of active school children making a big change by taking matters in their hands.Students from Villa Theresa, Little Flower of Jesus-Kalabadevi, Kamala High School-Khar, St Elias High School-Khar, SS Sahaney High School- Khar participated in the drive at Girgaum Chowpatty, Chimbai Bandra, and Juhu Chowpatty.

“ We have suceeded in several ways, since there were many other students from non-CMCA schools and colleges who actively participated in the clean up,” concludes Lulla.The concept of ‘active citizens’ has finally began to reach the youth.