THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As part of the National Pollution Day on December 2, students part of the National Cadet Corps under Government Arts College and University College carried out a special beach cleaning drive at Veli. As many as 200 students took part in the cleaning drive during which over five tonnes of accumulated garbage from the shores was removed. TNIE has done multiple stories on the state of the beach.
The drive was held from 9am to 1pm and the segregated waste was handed over to the Thiruvananthapuram city corporation for scientific disposal. Bosco Lawrence, the NCC Unit officer at Government Arts’ College, said around 60 kg of plastic waste were removed as part of the drive. “The students cleaned the Veli Tourist Village and the beach. We cleaned around 1.5km of the shore. We also organised awareness classes for the students and a street play,” said Bosco Lawrence.
An official of the Veli Tourist Village said that the accumulated waste near the breakwater would be cleaned once the breakwater is closed. “Now, the breakwater is open, so we decided to clean it up later. The rest of the stretch was cleaned. We have decided to carry out regular cleaning of the beach using our staff,” said the official.