Beach clean-up drive in Chennai on Sunday; ministers to participate

CHENNAI: The State government, along with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has organised a mega beach cleaning event on Sunday from 7 am to 9 am.

A government press release said that the event will take place in Besant Nagar Beach, Kovalam Beach and Manakudi Beach in Kanyakumari district. "This initiative aims to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining clean and healthy beaches while promoting community involvement and collective action, coinciding with G20 meetings on the environment," the release added.

The event will see the enthusiastic participation of students from schools and colleges, NGOs, volunteers, and the local public. Health Minister M Subramanian, Environment and Climate Change minister Siva V Meyyanathan, volunteers and officials will participate in the clean-up drive, the release added.

Additionally, the event will showcase sand art, posters on marine biodiversity of Tamil Nadu. Participants will collect waste along the designated stretches of beaches, which will be subsequently deposited in collection bins provided at the locations. The collected beach litter will be segregated and handed over to the respective local bodies for proper disposal. It may be noted that the state government had proposed several beach beatification projects to spruce the Thiruvottriyur beach in North Chennai, Kovalam and Kottiwakkam beach in South Chennai.