Indian Coast Guard personnel of Tuticorin station launched an awareness campaign on the importance of clean seas for preserving the coast here on Saturday. The Indian Coast Guard Station in Tuticorin in association with Hyundai, Lions Club of Tuticorin and Nila Sea Foods coordinated the International Coastal Cleanup Day. The cleaning activity was carried out along the Coast from Tuticorin Port Trust administrative building to South of V.O.Chidambaranar Port Trust Guest House.
The participants removed garbage, debris and non bio-degradable materials found on the beach which in turn motivated the local populace towards maintaining a clean environment.
The programme was initiated with the active participation of volunteer groups comprising family members of Coast Guard personnel, Tuticorin Corporation, NCC cadets of various educational institutions, employees of V.O.C Port, Central Industrial Security Force personnel, Home Guard personnel, Marine Police, students of St. Mary's College, Harbour School and Vikasa School. The Commanding Officer, S.E.D. Anand Kumar, Indian Coast Guard Station, Tuticorin flagged off the event. Approximately 400 participants took part in the event.
Students from the Department of Civil Engineering, Dr. Sivanthi Aditanar College of Engineering, Tiruchendur, were also involved in cleaning up the marine debris along the Tiruchendur temple coast. In a two-hour duration, one tonne of trash was collected from one kilometre distance. The collected debris was properly disposed of.
V.S. Tamilarasan, Head of the Department, Department of Civil Engineering, said that “one million plastic bags are being used every minute throughout the world and three million tonnes of plastic are used for making bottles every year. It requires 450 years for a plastic bottle to degrade.”
The programme highlighted serious ecological impacts of marine debris, which decimates biodiversity. The first coastal cleanup programme was started in 1986, with a staff member of The Ocean Conservancy, shores of South Padre Island, Texas. With that, Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup programme was born. Forty volunteers and five faculty took part. N. Gladwin Gnana Asir, Lecturer, K. Bala Shanmuganathan, Muthu Kumar and Kandasamy coordinated the programme.
