After Team India’s T20 World Cup victory parade, BMC collects over 11,000 kg waste from Mumbai’s Marine Drive

Overnight drive

In a drive that went on overnight, the civic body pressed its staffers alongside 25 labourers who had been roped in through NGOs, to ensure that the filth-laden swathes are cleared even before the morning walkers could hit the promenade on Friday.

By the time the victory-parade came to an end and the sea of fans trickled into a stream of few, the swathes along Marine Drive were left riddled with garbage ranging from plastic bottles, chip wrappers, cups, paper, clothes to even shoes and chappals, which several visitors lost in the chaos of the frenzied crowd. (Source: Express Photos/ BMC)

In what brought routine life in the maximum city to a grinding halt on Thursday night, lakhs of fans thronged the stretch to catch a glimpse of the ‘Men in Blue’ set out on a 1.7-km-long victory parade from the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) to the Wankhede Stadium. Packed in like sardines, thousands more filled the Wankhade stands to cheer on their heroes, and the T20 world cup trophy, who reached the stadium around 8.30 pm.

What fans left behind

By the time the victory-parade came to an end and the sea of fans trickled into a stream of few, the swathes along Marine Drive were left riddled with garbage ranging from plastic bottles, chip wrappers, cups, paper, clothes to even shoes and chappals, which several visitors lost in the chaos of the frenzied crowd.

Wasting no time, at 11.30 pm on Thursday, the BMC roped in 25 labourers through NGOs, who conducted the cleanliness drive during the night while civic staffers from the solid waste management department were pressed into action in the wee hours.

A dumper, compactor, five small vehicles and 11.5 MT of waste

Working overnight, the civic staffers loaded two vehicles — one dumper and one compactor — with over nine metric tonne of waste. According to a senior BMC official, the capacity of one dumper is three metric tonne and one compactor holds up to six metric tonne of waste.

Alongside this, the civic body also filled five small closed body vehicles (SCBV) with odd articles like shoes, chappals and other recyclable materials, which were later unloaded at the Suraksha Garden. Each SCBV has a holding capacity of 500 kg. The cleanliness drive was wrapped up by 8 am on Friday.

Several citizens who flocked the Marine Drive promenade for their early morning walk took to social media and lauded the civic staffers for clearing the litter overnight. (Source: Express Photos/ BMC)

According to the civic body, the waste from the five small jeeps which comprised recyclable materials like shoes and slippers will be sent for reprocessing.

Netizens laud BMC efforts

Several citizens who flocked the Marine Drive promenade for their early morning walk took to social media and lauded the civic staffers for clearing the litter overnight.

An X user, @ivaibhavk, shared a video and wrote, “A big thank you to the sanitation workers of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Before the citizens who celebrated the World Cup victory parade woke up, the sanitation workers had already cleaned and tidied up the Marine Drive area. The previous night, the Marine Drive area was littered with thousands of shoes and sandals, and these workers were busy removing the garbage until dawn. By morning, they had restored Mumbai to its original state. We should all express our gratitude to these workers. Attached are two videos, one from the night and one from the morning.”