Kachre Ki Azadi: Environment Life Foundation Marks 4th Anniversary With Mangrove Cleanup At Nerul

Team Environment Life Foundation celebrated its fourth year of continuous work in cleaning with the slogan ‘Kachre se Azadi’ and cleaned the mangrove area of Karave Jetty at Nerul with the help of its 200 volunteers. “On this Independence Day, we proudly mark the 4th year of our noble initiative for Mangrove Conservation and wildlife protection. Our commitment to investing time from our routines into nature helps balance the ecosystem and fosters its continuous revival. Through our collective efforts, we are aiding nature in breathing pure air and restoring its original habitats,” said Dharmesh Barai, the founder of the team.

On behalf of the Environment Life Foundation, supported by the Mangrove Foundation and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), the foundation has urged everyone to respect the environment and work towards its protection and preservation. “Over the past four years, this drive has mobilized 70,000 citizens and removed over 650 tons of trash, providing millions of lives with their natural habitats,” Barai added. On Thursday, the team collected 1 tone of trash from the jetty which is located near TS Chanakya in Nerul.

“We shared our heartfelt thanks to Onkar Bhojne, renowned Marathi cinema actor, and Deepak Lanjekar who had joined this initiative. Their time spent with nature, working alongside volunteers, and their commitment to future efforts is truly inspiring. We also appreciate the invaluable contributions of our Mangrove Soldiers, SIES (Nerul) College, Sterling College of Pharmacy (NSS), and Saraswati College of Engineering (NSS) to biodiversity conservation,” Barai added.

Barai, a Nerul resident had started the initiative in the year 2020 during the lockdown period with the help of four friend. Eventually, people kept joining him and the initiative received momentum and which was thought of to be a short-time initiative, became a weekly affair for the team. Apart from the plastic waste, the team finds a lot of medical waste as well in the collection drives which they keep on urging the citizens to not dispose into the environment.