Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Sending out a clean message
Students and other enthusiasts cleaning the beach on the occasion of World Ocean Day.
The educated elite is conscious about their personal hygiene and health. But the same cannot be said when it comes to their social responsibility of keeping the surroundings clean.
As a result, one finds even public places like the beach littered with plastic cups, bottles and leftover food and what not.
It was with the objective of creating awareness among people about their social responsibility, the regional centre of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) took up beach cleaning from Ramakrishna Beach to the Submarine Museum, INS Kursura, on the occasion of the World Ocean Day on Tuesday.
In less than half-a-kilometre stretch between RK Beach and INS Kursura, the participants collected three vanloads of garbage, which included plastic teacups, edible wastes and polythene covers. "Canteens and restaurants on the beach are the major culprits in spoiling its environs. While some are throwing the wastes at random on the beach, others are collecting them in big polythene covers and dumping them in sand, a little away from their premises,'' said one of the participants, showing a big black polythene cover that he had collected.
The staff of the NIO and the Customs and Central Excise Departments participated in good numbers. The Chief Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, T.V. Sairam, motivated his staff by picking up the garbage himself. Ten NSS volunteers of AMAL College, Anakapalle, actively participated in the programme.
"The Principal was reluctant to allow them to participate in the programme as he feared about the safety of the students on the beach. I had to convince him about their safety,'' the NSS programme officer, S. Sankara Rao, said.
"Beach cleaning is an formidable task, which can be successful only with public cooperation. Throwing wastes at random will compound the problem, while using dustbins will make the task of sanitary workers easy. We are planning to take up beach cleaning twice a year to bring about awareness in this regard,'' said the Deputy Director of the NIO Regional Centre, K.S.R. Murthy.
By Madhu Gopal B.
in Visakhapatnam
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
|
