Mumbai: A day after Ganpati Visarjan festivities, Bollywood and television celebrities like Shahid Kapoor, Amit Sadh, Niharica Raizada, Ritwik Sahore and Tanuj Mahashabde took to the Mumbai beaches for a clean-up drive.
Every year on the last day of Ganpati festivities, thousands of idols are immersed with processions that leave the beaches across Mumbai dirty. Several volunteers took to the city beaches on Monday morning, and celebrities turned up to support them and build enthusiasm.
Shahid and Amit were at the Juhu Beach clean-up drive.
Amit, who turned up early morning helping out the volunteers, said: "It's amazing that these kids woke up at 3:30 a.m. and came here to clean the beach but they can't do it everyday. So every individual in our country has to take onus. This is our home and until you have that feeling of ownership and responsibility, we won't be able to clean our country.
"Everyone knows what to do, where to go, only if you would think back to what your teachers taught you in school."
Niharica was at the Aksa beach said it's her first clean-up activity, but she said she will fulfil her duty as a good citizen of the country.
"This was my first experience coming here to clean the beach. I have been to Aksa Beach for shoots many times and I have always thought we have such beautiful beaches. Why don't people keep it clean? If we had started years ago, even we would have had clear blue beaches. The only message I want people to understand is to think about nature as much as they think about their family."
Viacom18, along with 700 student volunteers, associated with the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA), supported the city civic authorities by organising a clean-up drive across major beach promenades in the city as part of its Chakachak Mumbai initiative.
Joining the young volunteers were popular Nickelodeon toons Motu Patlu and Shiva, who encouraged and motivated them towards environment friendly living and responsible celebrations. Accompanying them was actor Archana Nipankar, who plays Dipika in the popular Colors Marathi show "Radha Prem Rangi Rangali".