Versova is an upmarket neighbourhood in the north-western Mumbai. It is known for its beach and the Versova Fort. It was part of Portuguese India, which was part of the Portuguese Empire, until 1739, when the Portuguese lost this part of their empire to the Maratha Empire. The beach of Versova recently undertook a massive clean-up effort, labelled as the largest ever beach clean-up.
History
Versova, originally named Vesave, is a small fishing village of the Kolis, situated to the north of the old Mumbai city. Britishers 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". 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 medieval period. The Portuguese constructed the Our Lady of Health Church in Versova, and a number of Kolis 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, who strengthened the fort. A British force led by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Keating defeated the Marathas 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.
Environmental Clean-up Efforts
By 2015 Versova beach had become choked with up to 5.5 feet of rotting refuse and trash - most of it plastic. In October 2015Afroz 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 11,684,500 pounds of trash, most of it plastic. The volunteers also cleaned up 52 public toilets and planted over 50 coconut trees. In 2016, Shah was honored with the "Champion of the Earth" award by the United Nations Environment Programme in recognition of his vision and hard work. In early 2018, Olive Ridley sea turtles returned to the beach for the first time in 20 years to nest and hatchlings were observed heading toward the sea on March 22, 2018. Recently, Afroz shah has appeared on several platforms as a champion of the cause to ban plastics and travelled across the country to several schools in a pledge to refuse, reduce and reuse plastic.
Kolis of Versova
The people who make Versova alive are the original inhabitants of Mumbai, "Kolis". Shores of the Versova creek area are surrounded by flourishing Mangroves which support different kinds of organisms especially molluscs, crabs and fish. Kolis are the fishermen who sell their fish at versova jetty at wholesale prices. They have their own co-operative societies of versova fishermen, wherein they manage all the fishing activities. Versova Fisherfolk community. Every other day, the fisherfolk, including the men who sail early morning and the feisty, bejewelled women who sell the day’s wares at markets nearby, fight the city’s municipal authorities and real estate developers to keep the land that Versova’s Koli association, Vesawe Koli Samaj Trust, owns. Kolis are believed to be the oldest inhabitants of the land that is now Mumbai. Kolis of Versova believe in partying harder and they have a new festival every month. "Rajhans Tapke" from Versova Koliwada started the Versova Koli festival in 2005 to help the Koli fishing community with extra income. For More info on Kolis of Bombay, read this article
