Thousands of volunteers from across the country on Saturday gathered here to participate in the massive beach cleanup drive on the occasion of International Coastal Cleanup Day (ICCD). The students also joined in large numbers to clean beaches near Konark and Astarang area along the coastline across the district.
The clean-up is a part of ‘Mo Beach’ cleaning programme, introduced by the district administration after being ravaged by Cyclone Fani four months ago. ‘Mo’ in Oriya means ‘my’ and the campaign aims to make the shoreline clean and beautiful.
Puri district has seven enchanting beaches including Baliharchandi, Rajhans, Astaranga and Ramchandi, which are much popular with the visiting tourists.
“#Odisha’s #PuriBeachCleanup has turned into a huge movement uniting vast concourse of people in this fight against climate change by keeping our beaches litter-free & discouraging single-use plastic,” tweeted the office of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Moreover, in order to make this campaign a success, the district administration roped in popular sand sculptor Sudarshan Patnaik as the brand ambassador of ‘Mo Beach’ cleaning campaign. Patnaik on Thursday had made a few feet long sand sculpture depicting a broom and a bucket.
He also urged the masses through his art to join the campaign by inscribing a slogan at the bottom ‘Join MoBeach Puri on 21st September.’
Meanwhile, a cleanliness drive was also organised at Veli Beach in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and at Yamuna ghat near Kalindi Kunj in Delhi. Hundreds of volunteers took part in the exercise in a bid to keep the surroundings of Yamuna clean. The Indian Coast Guard conducted a coastal cleanup drive at Rabindranath Tagore beach, Kodibag beach and Baithkol beach in Karnataka’s Karwar.
Surpasses 2016 Versova Beach Cleanup
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The clean-up drive in Puri has been touted as a larger exercise than the one executed on Mumbai’s Versova beach, in terms of the number of people and area covered
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| In 2016, a mega cleanliness drive was organised at Mumbai’s Versova beach wherein over 2,000 people including residents, celebrities and UN officials had come together to make the beach litter-free |
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 "Puri beach in Odisha")
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