Beach clean-up exercise held at Bheemunipatnam

Visakhapatnam: Armed with gloves and sacks, students, teachers, officials from district administration and corporation, NGO representatives joined hands to clean the shores of the Bheemunipatnam beach in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

The clean-up exercise that lasted for over two hours in the morning witnessed participation of various communities extending support to the cleanliness campaign 'Sagara Teera Swachta' centred on the theme 'our city our responsibility'.

Speaking on the occasion, District Collector A Mallikarjuna called upon people to extend their support to keep the beach environment clean. Further, he said the beach clean-up exercise will be a constant endeavour on the first Sunday of every month. The mission is also to make the tourists arriving in Visakhapatnam keep the surroundings clean and put an end to single use plastic supplies.

About six tonnes of waste was collected as a part of the exercise that began at 6 am. In addition, arrangements were made to shift the collected garbage to the waste disposal centers. "The goal is to completely eliminate single-use plastic products and make the city plastic-free," Municipal Commissioner G Lakshmisha emphasised while participating in the endeavour.

A sand sculpture was made highlighting the theme of the campaign at Bheemli beach.

The clean-up drive included the participation of Joint Collector KS Viswanathan, GVMC Commissioner G Lakshmisha, Divis Lab staff, students from Visakha Valley School and Avanthi Educational Institutions and many public representatives.