Mangaluru : Despite heavy rains and strong winds, Coast Guard successfully coordinated International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) – 2017 at the beaches of Panambur, Tannirbhavi, Surathkal, Malpe and Rabindranath Tagore beach, Karwar with the support of 5000 volunteers. The cleanliness drive commenced at 08:00 AM and lasted till 11:00 AM on 16 September 2017.

The spirit and josh of school kids was worth emulating by one and all.

The International Coastal Cleanup is the world’s largest one-day volunteer effort to clean up the marine environment under the aegis of UN. All over the world, every September volunteers from various walks of life descend at local beaches to show their commitment to clean oceans, beaches and waterways.

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has been coordinating International Coastal Cleanup Day in India. The coastal cleanup is conducted under the direction of United National Environment Programme (UNEP) and South Asian Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) in South Asian Region. During the last International Coastal Cleanup programme in September 2016, ICG launched Swachh Sagar Abhiyan taking the Government of India drive of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to Maritime Zones of India.

The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narenda Modi has called upon the Nation to undertake Swachhta hi Sewa from 15 September to 02 October 2017 by Jagrukta Abhiyan – mass mobilization of public and Shramdan. The coastal cleanliness drive had the motto of cleanliness by dovetailing Swachh Bharat, Swachh Sagar Abhiyan and Swachhta hi Sewa.

Coast Guard personnel, Coastal Security Police, State Police, New Mangalore Port Trust, Central Industrial Security Force, Customs & Central Excise, Central GST Commissionerate, Municipal Corporation Mangalore and Udupi, Regional Transport Department, Mangalore, School & College Students, NCC Cadets, NSS volunteers, Scout & Guides, members of civil societies, members from Anti Pollution Drive, volunteers from coastal villages etc were amongst the participants.

Educational institutes like NITTE, KMC, NITK Surathkal, DPS, MV Shetty College, Sridevi College, Yenepoya University, Father Muller College, Municipal Schools and Kendriya Vidyalaya from Mangalore, Poorna Pranja College, Udupi, MGM College, Dr. TMA Pai Polytechnic, Udupi, MCK College, Kallianpur, Government PU College Kundapura and Malpe, St Joseph High School, Karwar, Swami Vivekananda School, Karwar and Sraswati Vidhayalaya, Karwar participated in the event.

The event was supported by CSP, MRPL, HPCL, Adani, Amul, Nandini, Cochin Bakery, Monginis, Maruti, SBI, Tata, Pepsi Co, Corporation Bank, Vijaya Bank, Karnataka Bank, Axis Bank and Syndicate Bank, Hotel Moti Mehal, Ocean Pearl, Forum Fiza, Stomach Restaurant, Surathkal, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Grasim Industries, Karwar.

Representative of U.T. Khader, Hon’ble Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department of Karnataka state, B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, MLA, Dr. M Subrahmanyam, IRS, Commissioner of Customs & Central Excise, Shri Suresh P Shirwadkar, Chairman NMPT, Sudheer Kumar Reddy Ch, IPS, SP Mangalore and Kumara, KAS, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mangalore were the dignitaries at Panambur. YK Belagal, Traffic Manager, NMPT was present at Thannirbhavi beach. KT Balakrishnan, SP, CSP Malpe and Shilpa Nag, IAS, Assistant Commissioner, Kundapura were prominent guests at Malpe. Dr. Ashok Babu, Dean, NITK was the chief guest at Surathkal. BB Dixit, Chairman and Managing Director Grasim Industries was the chief guest at Karwar. The presence of the dignitaries and leaders brought the waves of enthusiasm and motivation amongst the participants.

The Commander Coast Guard Karnataka, Deputy Inspector General SS Dasila, TM who was present at Panambur beach, lead the SwachhtaTeam for the cleanliness drive. All the participating personnel were provided with gash bags and protective gloves to undertake the beach and surroundings cleaning. The feeling of esprit-de-corps and togetherness was evident in the team, which was consisting of members from various age groups, professions and organizations. The atmosphere was lively and enthralling. Some of the students at Panambur utilised the rainy day and cool atmosphere by indulging themselves in dance moves for a while. The event was also aired on Mangalore FM 98.3 Radio Mirchi.

During the cleanliness event, DIG SS Dasila, TM stated, “The Coast Guard Karnataka has been serving the coastal State and its people by putting in its best efforts. The service has been successful in saving 56 lives in the preceding three months of the monsoon. In addition, the Coast Guard has been participating in social causes like cleanliness campaigns, Swachh Bharat and Swachh Sagar derived by the vision of Director General of Indian Coast Guard. We are also conducting tree plantation drives to maintain our ecosystem and planted more than 1000 saplings in Coast Guard premises”.

During the cleanup drive at Malpe, an eight feet long python was found entangled in bushes. It was saved and safely sent back to its natural habitat.

The participants removed the waste and non bio-degradable materials littered at beaches. The waste mainly consisted of wrappers of food articles and plastic bottles thrown by tourists. The collected waste materials were put in garbage bags for proper disposal. The clean beaches looked more beautiful, serene and spread the message of Swachhta hi Sewa. The cleanliness drive has created awareness amongst people and hope they continue to come forward to keep the coastal environment clean for the years to come.