The Cost of Agitating on Streets

Afroz Shah is a lawyer by profession and an environmentalist by passion. He became a household name after organizing the world’s largest beach clean-up project at Versova Beach, Mumbai. For his efforts to make beaches garbage free and organising the world's largest beach clean-up, Shah was named by the UN as a Champion of the Earth in 2016 and was also awarded Eco warrior and Indian of the year in subsequent years. However, the feather in the cap came for him when Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Shah for transforming Versova beach from filth and garbage to clean and beautiful during his radio programme 'Mann ki baat' on 28 May 2017. In an interesting conversation with Smita Prakash, Shah narrates the story of how his personal endeavor of cleaning beaches and restoring ecology became a mass movement. He also talks about the support he received from the likes of Amitabh Bachhchan and the Dawoodi Bohra community which helped him restore the ecosystem which led to the return of Ridley turtles to Mumbai beach. Afroz also talks about his ongoing partnerships to educate people on garbage reduction and sanitation in the slums of Mumbai and his future plans on cleaning the Mithi river and Dana Pani beach in Mumbai.