About 1,000 volunteers of the Shri Sant Janardhan Swami Sanskar Sanstha from Maharashtra joined hands to clean the waste on the five-km Puri beach on Saturday.
Amid occasional rainfall, the volunteers, who were divided into 16 groups having 60 members in each group, spread over Digabareni to the Light House and Digabareni to Pink House on the beach to give a makeover to the shoreline.
The two-hour-long cleanup drive by the volunteers, including women and senior citizens, not only drew eyeballs from the onlookers but made a significant impact on the beach. Plastic cups and bottles, aluminium cans, plastic plates, among the waste materials were removed by the volunteers.
The district administration made all the necessary arrangements and provided trash bags, gloves and other cleanup materials to the volunteers who came all the way from Maharashtra to take part in the shoreline cleanup drive in Puri.
“We are very thankful to the volunteers who cleaned up the entire beach with full of passion and determination amid rains and inclement weather conditions. It is really a praiseworthy action and will sure inspire others to join the drive to keep the beach waste-free,” said Puri Collector Balwant Singh.
Singh also appeals tourists and people not to throw plastic cups and bottles, aluminium cans on the beach as it would cause an irreversible damage to the whole ecosystem.
Earlier, the administration had launched a ‘Mo Beach’ campaign to keep the shoreline clean and beautiful.
Notably, the Puri beach is the first beach in Asia to get the Blue Flag certification, a tag is given to environment-friendly and clean beaches which are equipped with amenities of international standards for tourists.