Versova (

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

: , ) is an upmarket neighbourhood in north-western

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. It is known for its beach and the Versova Fort. The beach of Versova undertook a massive clean-up effort in 2016, labelled as the largest ever beach clean-up.

History

Versova, originally named Vesave, is a small fishing village of the

Kolis The Koli is an Indian caste that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Nepal. Koli is an agriculturist caste of Gujarat but in coastal areas they also work as fishermen along with agriculture. In the beginning of 20th ce ...

, situated to the north of the old Mumbai city. Britain used to call this vis-a-vis and locals gave it the name Visava. The original name of the village is "Visava", which derives from the Marathi word for "rest" (as in resting place). Later, it was pronounced as "Vesava". The village is mentioned in the writings of Gemelli Careri in 1695. Versova came under the Portuguese rule in the late medieval period. The Portuguese constructed the Our Lady of Health Church in Versova, and a number of Kolis were converted to Christianity during this period. By 1720, it had emerged as a small town, with a small fort and a growing trade in dry fish. In 1739, the Portuguese lost the area to the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

, who strengthened the fort. A

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

force led by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Keating defeated the

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

s in 1774. In 1800, the British established a training facility for artillery and engineering cadets. However, the facility was moved to the old Bombay city after a fever epidemic affected nearly all the cadets, and killed many of them. The military establishment was completely removed in 1818. In 1875–86, the exports from the trade amounted to and the imports in 1876–77 were worth .

Environment

The indigenous population are the

people. Shores of the Versova creek area are surrounded by flourishing Mangroves which support different kinds of

marine life Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, aquatic plant, plants, algae, marine fungi, fungi, marine protists, protists, single-celled marine microorganisms, microorganisms ...

, especially molluscs, crabs and fish. The native population sells fish at Versova jetty at wholesale prices. They have their own

cooperative society A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democra ...

of Versova fishermen, wherein they manage all the fishing activities. Kolis are believed to be the oldest and original inhabitants of the land that is now Mumbai. The Versova Koli Seafood Festival was started in 2006 to help the Koli fishing community with extra income.

Environmental clean-up effort

By 2015, Versova beach had become choked with up to of rotting refuse and trash—most of it plastic. In October 2015, Afroz Shah, a young lawyer and environmentalist in Mumbai moved into the area and along with Harbansh Mathur, an 84-year-old who has since died, began efforts to clean up the beach. Eventually Shah started a volunteer organization, Versova Residents Volunteers, and encouraged volunteers to show up for weekly "dates with the ocean" – so called because of how arduous the work was. Each Sunday the volunteers would gather to remove as much trash as possible. Over the course of 21 months, volunteers removed close to of trash, most of it plastic. The volunteers also cleaned up 52 public toilets and planted over 50 coconut trees. In 2016, Shah was honoured with the "Champion of the Earth" award by the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

in recognition of his vision and hard work. In early 2018,

Olive Ridley The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in t ...

sea turtles returned to the beach for the first time in 20 years to nest and hatchlings were observed heading toward the sea on 22 March 2018. Recently, Afroz Shah has appeared on several platforms as a champion of the cause to ban plastics and has travelled across the country to several schools in a pledge to refuse, reduce and reuse plastic.

References

{{Mumbai metropolitan area Neighbourhoods in Maharashtra Environmentalism in India

History

Environment

Environmental clean-up effort

See also

References