Nature lovers, cops and officials join hands to clean up Yeoor forest

Forest officials and Vartak Nagar police took stern action to ensure visitors did not litter the place with plastic and garbage.

Nature lovers, cops and officials join hands to clean up Yeoor forest

Nature lovers who cleared the Yeoor forest of garbage, with the policemen who helped them

Thanks to nature lovers, forest officials and the Vartak Nagar police, the Yeoor forest has been almost cleared of garbage. The forest is popular during the monsoon for outings and several visitors leave garbage behind, especially on gataari amavasya. But this year forest department (FD) officials and the Vartak Nagar police took strict action to ensure no one dirties the place, and succeeded.

Yeoor is an eco-sensitive area but several people indulge in noisy celebrations there, and litter the place with plastic and other garbage including empty alcohol bottles. Nature lovers have been holding drives to clean the place for five years. They spoke to forest officials and the police, who later joined them to help.

Pradeep Giridhar, senior police inspector, Vartak Nagar police station said, "We have been holding strict checks. Our team does not allow any car with liquor bottles to enter the forest. We also have a van that patrols the area to keep a check on everyone's activities."

Every year some nature lovers hold a garbage collection programme at Yeoor, and have been collecting tonnes of it in the monsoon. This year they have collected about 10 sacks of garbage, mostly plastic from around Bhendi Nala. Police and volunteers said the rest of the forest is nearly free of garbage as their persistent clean up drives for years have cleaned it from plastic, thermocol, beer bottles, etc.

The FD has also fenced the entire Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and entry for picnickers is restricted. An environmentalist, Rohit Joshi said, "All the plastic waste dumped in the jungle by picnickers flows through small streams and gets caught in bushes. So we have been holding clean up drives during the monsoon. The plastic will be given for recycling. This year we have collected just 10 sacks of garbage which is a good sign for the environment."

Also read: Thane: Yeoor stroll takes ugly turn after men lose way

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