As part of its ongoing participation in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s Swachhata Pakhwada cleanliness campaign, a team of volunteers from The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) participated in a clean-up drive at Juhu Beach, Mumbai on Sunday, November 10, 2019, in addition to other ongoing activities.

The campaign was organised in conjunction with the NGO ‘Shuddhi’. Students of D. G. Ruparel College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai also participated as volunteers.

Directors and other staff members of GJEPC assembled at 7:30 am on Sunday morning at the spot, and donned gloves and masks as they started the clean-up drive over a stretch of approximately 2 kms. The volunteers picked up plastic, trash, etc. and everything that the ocean had thrown out on the shore. The trash was collected, gathered in garbage collection bins and were eventually discarded in the BMC garbage trucks.

This activity was a first of its kind for GJEPC under the ‘Swachhata Pakhwada Campaign’. Besides being extremely overwhelmed by the experience, the volunteers felt a sense of pride and satisfaction post the activity.

They realised that more than 80% of trash in the water comes from the land and the more waste society feeds the ocean, the more it is going to throw back at on the beaches.

This was a small effort from GJEPC team to keep the surroundings and the environment clean and make the city and the earth a healthier and happier place to live in.