SRIKAKULAM: It is a common practice for the visitors and tourists to litter beaches after partying. Noticing that the beaches are losing their sheen due to indiscriminate dumping of trash, a group of youngsters from Mandasa has decided to take up beach clean-up activity as their life mission.
As tourists are throwing plastic waste and garbage at the beach near Ratti village in Mandasa mandal, a few youths came forward to clean up the beach. It may be mentioned that people have started thronging the beaches since Karthika Masam for parties.
However, the plastic waste and food left by the visitors on the beach is causing severe inconvenience to coastal villagers and fishermen. Besides cleaning up the beach, the youth are also creating awareness among the tourists on hygienic practices and Covid-19 precautionary measures.
“A group of youth from Mandasa village has decided to sensitise the public about cleanliness in the name of Great Mandasa - Clean Mandasa,” said Mandasa Development Society secretary Dileep Panigrahi. “We are sensitising the tourists about the importance of maintaining hygiene and greenery, besides educating them on Covid-19 precautionary measures.
As more people are thronging beaches on weekends, we have decided to clean them up on Sundays and other public holidays,” he added. “We cleared the plastic and food waste at beach near Ratti village on last Sunday. We also sensitised the visitors about the need to keep the beaches neat and clean,” Dileep explained.
“To ensure clean and neat beaches, we have been motivating the local youths to join the campaign. As we conducted the clean-up drive twice at Ratti village, we will launch the campaign at Baruva beach from next Sunday,’’ he concluded.