Domestic tourists visiting local beaches are being greeted by heaps of garbage and tonnes of trash littered on the shore, which is turning out to be an eyesore. Lack of effective measures by the officials concerned to control the littering, the tourists are expressing displeasure over the beaches in the city.
Some days ago, a tourist had recorded a video of trash littered at the Rushikonda Beach. In his video which was uploaded on social media, the tourist criticised the officials for not taking measures despite the huge footfall at the beach. Tourists said cattle was also allowed to roam freely across the beach. This was the same beach, where a year ago, the district administration had hoisted the ‘Blue Flag’.
“It is disgusting to see liquor bottles, plastic, thermocol sheets and coconut shells on the beach, making it inconvenient for us to sit at some places. I recall this beach was so clean and neat some years ago,” said B Nidhi, a tourist from Eluru.
The situation was no different at the Tenneti Beach, which has been seeing an increase in footfall after the abandoned ship MVV Maa beached up at the shore. Some parts of R.K Beach is also seen with wastes on the surface. Negligence of several visitors dumping plastic bottles, food wastes and other litter despite having dustbins is said to be one of the reasons. Some of the sanitary workers and community guards attributed the situation to leaving open drainages directly into the sea at some places by the corporation.
“During high tide, some of the garbage that flows into the sea return to the shores at various places,” said a community guard working at a city beach, adding that in many stretches between Naval Coastal Battery (NCB) and Bheemunipatnam, many city drains are directly released into sea. Recently, a Vizagite uploaded a video of wastes being released into the sea near Tenneti Park and seeking action from the authorities concerned. The video was widely shared on the social media, said a community guard.
City-based NGO, India Youth For Society (IYFS), which has been working against plastic pollution and dumping of wastes along the coastal stretch, organised a beach clean-up campaign during the last week of December 2021, to raise awareness on marine littering with the help of around 30 youth.
“In between the Rushikonda beach and IT SEZ, we have removed around 400 kg of trash, mostly liquor bottles. Again in another clean-up at Sagar Nagar beach, we had collected around 240 kg of trash,” IYFS president Y. Appala Reddy said.
‘Impose fines’
Not ruling out open drainages, he said that strict laws should be enacted and fines be imposed on those found to be littering on beaches.
Some of the environmentalists from the city demand that the district administration conduct regular checks and impose fines along the coastal stretch to prevent marine littering.
Published - February 05, 2022 01:09 am IST
