‘What are syringes, bottles doing inside mangroves in Navi Mumbai?’

Waste that was choking a mangrove site

While carrying out clean-up drives in mangrove areas, nature lovers in Navi Mumbai are coming across medical waste, including syringes.

Director of NGO NatConnect Foundation B N Kumar and environmentalist Nandkumar Pawar wrote to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde about the matter on August 28.

Trash that usually ends up in the sea

Their letter states that even as a dozen NGOs are committed to cleaning up mangroves in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), more and more waste is being drained into the sea, choking vital plants that save the coast.

Kumar wrote, "Official apathy, coupled with citizen irresponsibility, is leading to tonnes of muck flowing into the creek and choking the mangroves in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai coasts, often leading to frustration among selfless workers. From chappals to mattresses, to liquor bottles to medical waste, the list of garbage the mangrove sena picks up is ever unending."

Navi Mumbai-based activist Dharmesh Barai, who has just completed the 106th edition of his clean-up drive with his ‘mangrove soldiers', informed NatConnect Foundation that they had collected a large number of liquor bottles and medical waste such as test kits and syringes on Sunday.

The NGO also demanded that the government step in to take stern action against revellers who have parties on the seashores and discard their waste into the sea.

Medical waste, discarded school bags found at a mangrove site

Mangroves are not only frontline soldiers, protecting coasts from tidal attacks and storms, they are also inexpensive rainforests as they grow on their own. Apart from serving as breeding grounds for a variety of fish and crab, mangroves act as carbon sinks.

On August 28, mangrove soldiers collected some 800 kg of liquor bottles.

The letter stated, "The clean-up teams have also removed hundreds of school bags from the mangrove forests. The garbage that is collected at the 12-odd points could be as much as 10 to 12 tonnes a week or close to 50 tonnes a month. Apart from garbage dumps on the coasts, open nullahs are also to blame for the garbage that is killing our mangroves."

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has placed metal grills and meshes ahead of the outlets that drain into the creek, a measure that seems to be working.

Stating that the government must take steps to stop this destruction by erecting meshes at all drains and open nullahs, the letter read, "This is a one-time investment that will fetch rich dividends in terms of healthy mangroves."

Kumar also suggested that the government take steps to deter people from throwing garbage into the creeks and drains, such as imposing stringent penalties and even imprisonment for repeat offenders.

"Just imagine the plight of the selfless mangrove soldiers who venture into the thick grass, through the slush to pick up the muck and get hurt due to glass pieces and syringes," the letter read.

800
The weight of liquor bottles found at mangrove sites on August 28 (in kg)