Discover the city's broken glass beach - Times Of India Coverage

Times Of India. December 18, 2009

CHENNAI: The popular Elliots Beach in Besant Nagar, a survey by youth volunteers of the newly-launched Reclaim Our Beaches (ROB) campaign has shockingly revealed, is littered with at least 1,735 pieces of broken glass.

The four-day survey, using transect walks as the methodology, found about 20,000 pieces of trash, including over 8,500 plastic cups, water sachets and disposable spoons; some 8,000 pices of silver foil and mint packaging and about 850 bits of balloon.

"All this despite the Chennai corporation's Rs 2.43 crore beach beautification programme plan in Besant Nagar,'' said Siddharth Hande, an organiser of the ROB and a member of the youth collective 350me', at a press meet on Thursday. "The broken glass pieces clearly expose the city's collective lack of responsibility in maintaining beaches and holding civic authorities responsible," he added.

There are two corporation trash cans on the beach one on either end but none on the sands. Some vending stalls have dust bins. "The dust bins are not the solution. Disposable plastic should not be allowed on the beach,'' says Sharada Shankar of Save Chennai Beaches and a resident of Besant Nagar.

Criticizing the ban on cricket on the Marina, ROB campaigners say the government should develop a culture of consultation with the various stakeholders to ensure that the rights of a section of the beach users are not trampled upon.

"Chennai's beaches will not be beautiful without the kattumarams, kite flyers, the elderly chatting along the pavement or young people on the sands. What we want is a cleaner, safer beach with lots of sand and room for everyone,'' says Archanaa Seker, a young beach user. ROB is organising a rock concert by Junkyard Groove at the Elliots Beach on December 20 to celebrate the spirit of the city's beaches.

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