Viral pics: A sea of blue turned up at Mumbai's iconic Marine Drive promenade to welcome their cricketing heroes who returned home on Thursday after winning the T20 World Cup 2024. However, some among the lakhs of people who showed up at the memorable occasion also left behind loads of trash, including water bottles and footwear, which was later collected by the civic body in seven vehicles. The pictures of the same have gone viral on social media.
The cleanliness drive was held throughout the intervening night of Thursday and Friday after the victory parade, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Friday. This came after a sea of fans thronged the Marine Drive in south Mumbai to witness the victory parade of the Indian cricket team on Thursday evening. The team had arrived in New Delhi from the special Air India flight. They, earlier in the day, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 7 LKM, following which they arrived in Mumbai for the parade and felicitation ceremony at historic Wankhede Stadium later in the 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.
Piles of trash
The massive congregation 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.
(With PTI inputs)
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