Huge piles of trash were collected from the entire stretch of 12 beaches in Dakshina Kannada as beach cleaning marked the Clean India 2021-22 campaign organised as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav here on Sunday.
Volunteers in large numbers cleaned the beaches of Talapady, Ullal, Someshwar, Bengre, Tannirbavi, Panambur, Korikatta Bykampady, Chitrapura, Surathkal Iddya, Guddekoplu, Surathkal Light House and Sasihitlu. Local gram panchayats and urban local bodies, non-governmental organisations, youth bodies, voluntary organisations and general public joined the drive in removing trash from the beaches.
The drive was organised jointly by the Nehru Yuva Kendra, Mangaluru, under the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, Mangaluru City Corporation and Mahajana Sabha Bengre.
In addition to beach cleaning, all the 232 gram panchayats and 14 urban local bodies organised the drive in their respective jurisdictions coinciding with Rashtriya Ekta Divas on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Volunteers of NCC, NSS, Sahaya team and students from St. Aloysius College, Canara College, Alva’s College, Besant College for Women, Government First Grade Colleges and St. Agnes College were among those who participated in the drive.
Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada K.V. Rajendra administered the Oath of Unity (Ekta) at Thota Bengre to mark the Ekta Divas. He exhorted the public to own and show a sense of belongingness towards the surroundings they reside in and not to blame the system for the prevailing situation.
Inaugurating the event, Regional Director, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanghatan, South, S.P. Patnaik highlighted the role of youth in nation building, through participation in voluntary activities in the interest of the community. Taking a cue from the lives of leaders of the likes of Vallabhbhai Patel, who sacrificed themselves for the nation, he said that cleanliness should become part of individual habit system so that it transforms into a culture of the community and the entire nation.
Mayor Premananda Shetty, Commissioner of Mangaluru City Corporation Akshay Sridhar, Chairman of Karnataka Fisheries Development Corporation Nitin Kumar and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Hariram Shankar were among those who took part.
