BEC students clean up beach

July 29, 2014 11:07 pm | Updated November 05, 2016 07:09 am IST - BAPATLA:

Students of Bapatla Engineering College take out a pledge to keep the Suryalanka beach as a plastic free zone. T. Vijaya Kumar

Students of Bapatla Engineering College take out a pledge to keep the Suryalanka beach as a plastic free zone. T. Vijaya Kumar

The sandy beach at Suryalanka, a coastal village 10 k.m. away from Bapatla, has been attracting a lot of tourists for the last few years. Ever since the Andhra Pradesh Tourist Development Corporation (APTDC) has built sea facing cottages, the beachfront has emerged as a favourite getaway for many, especially IT professionals from Hyderabad.

But all is not well with the picturesque beach front. It continues to be littered with pieces of plastic bottles left over by tourists. Students of Bapatla Engineering College (BEC) have set upon themselves the task of cleaning the beach front. Under the aegis of Suryodaya Society for Awakening Community (SAC), the students cleaned up Suryalanka beach on Sunday evening.

“We have motivated the Adavipalem village panchayat to declare the beach as no plastic zone from August 3. Littering of plastic bottles, ice cream cups will be prohibited on the beach,” Hari Kishan, a third-year student of BEC and a member of SAC, told The Hindu on Tuesday.

The SAC was formed with support of BEC alumni in 2008 and since then have taken up various programme relating to eradication of child labour.

Clearing up plastic bottles, carry bags and other waste material thrown on the shore, the students motivated tourists too by administering a pledge to the visitors.

Forum For Better Bapatla secretary P.C. Sai Babu said the year's slogan “Together we have the power to protect the oceans,” has motivated the students to take up cleaning of beach.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.