T20 WC parade: BMC collects kilos of footwear, bottles

As a sea humanity turned up at the Mumbai's iconic Marine Drive promenade to give a hero's welcome to the T20 World Cup winning Indian team, this multitude also left behind loads of trash, including water bottles and footwear, that was later collected by the civic body in seven vehicles.

The cleanliness drive went on all through the intervening night of Thursday and Friday following the victory parade, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Friday.

Thousands of fans thronged the Marine Drive in south Mumbai to witness the victory parade of the Indian cricket team on Thursday evening.

The open bus parade started from the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Nariman Point after 7.30 pm and went till the Wankhede Stadium. Although it usually takes five minutes to cover the distance between these two points, it took more than one-and-a-half-hour for the parade to do so due to the large gathering.

This huge congregation also left behind piles of trash as footwear and water bottles were seen lying scattered on the stretch of road from where the victory parade passed.

In a release, the BMC said that along with a large number of wrappers of food items and water bottles, a huge quantity of shoes and chappals (slippers), among other things, were collected during the cleanliness drive.

Of the total trash, shoes and chappals were collected in as many as five jeeps, it said, adding that two dumpers were also used to lift the garbage from the spot.

Instead of sending this junk to the dumping ground, all these items will be sent to recycling plants, the civic body added.

The cleanliness drive started at 11.30 pm on Thursday and ended at 8 am on Friday. One hundred staffers of the civic solid waste management department and workers of some NGOs took part in it, it said.

With this operation, a neat and clean Marine Drive promenade was made available to people as scores of them use this spot for morning walk and exercising.

During the victory parade, police deployed a large number of personnel and made elaborate security arrangements between Marine Drive and Wankhede Stadium to avoid any untoward incident.

At least 11 persons were rushed to hospitals for sustaining minor injuries or feeling dizzy due to massive crowding along the route of the victory parade.