Puri: The Puri district administration organised a mega cleanliness drive under the banner of ‘Mo Beach’ cleaning programme on the coast here to mark the International Coastal Cleanup Day, September 21, Saturday.
More than ten thousand volunteers participated in the drive at several places along the district coast. Students and volunteers were found joining in large numbers to clean beaches near Ramachandi Temple, Konark and Astarang area along the coastline across the district.
This is the world’s largest beach clean-up programme, said an official of the district administration. The volunteers made a long human chain to create awareness on polythene hazard and a pollution-free shoreline.
The cleaning operation started from Arakhakuda beach near Chilika to Astaranga covering over 100 km along the coastline of Puri Saturday morning.
School and college students, vendors, photographers, lifeguards, tourist guides, hotel owners and their employees and employees of the civic body, Forest department, panchayati raj institutions, the fishermen community, police and fire services, SHG members, senior citizens and NGO activists, all participated in the two-hour-long clean-up drive from 6am on the occasion of International Beach Cleaning Day.
The Forest and Environment Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, the Tourism Department secretary and many senior officials from the district administration participated in the beach clean-up programme.
“We have joined the programme to keep our beach clean. We will continue our efforts to keep the beach clean not only for today, but also every day,” said the Self Help Group (SHG) women at Konark beach.
PNN