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 This is the era of 'days'! Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day ...... but this 'Beach Day' was different and was celebrated with a purpose. The objective of the celebrations was to create awareness about the importance of a clean beach.
The Exnora, in the locality, and the residents have formed a committee for cleaning up the beach and work is in progress. Tradition has it that people, with their families go to beaches and river banks on 'Chitra Pournami (Full Moon)' and have dinner. The 'Beach Day' was celebrated on
'Chitra Pournami'.
The Tamilnadu Tourism Department and the Tourist Promotion Board were also involved. A cultural festival was organised as part of the celebrations. Sweet Pongal and puliyotharai were sold at
subsidized rates. "Chitra Pournami is an important part of our cultural calendar. We thought it fit to celebrate Beach Day on
Chitra Pournami. The idea was to create awareness among the people about the importance of cleanliness of the beach," says Sathyanarayana head of the beach
Exnora.
"The TN government has allotted 25 crores for improvement of tourism.
 We have started lighting, roads, etc. with this amount. TN ranks third in the country in terms of tourist traffic. All the state governments are investing in tourism, since everyone realises the potential of this industry. Besant Nagar is only the beginning; we have plans for beautifying the Marina, Tuticorin and Nagapattinam beaches.
The government is making all efforts to give a fillip to this industry. It is not only the government's duty to keep the beaches clean, but the responsibility of the people too," says
Mr. Varaprasada Rao, Director, Tamil Nadu Tourism.
Ambrose, Editor Adyar Times, had this to say, "This beach is a boon to the residents here. It is the responsibility of each one of us to preserve this gift of God. The vendors in the beach have to co-operate in keeping the beach clean. All the beaches in the city are under the control of the PWD dept., but they do precious little to keep the beaches clean. It is essential that there should be a committee consisting of government officials and the public to maintain cleanliness."
 "People should not look to the government for all their needs. Self-discipline is a must. In a place like Malaysia even public toilets are clean. Any one who doesn't co-operate in keeping the toilets clean, is fined. This is not the case in our country. People think it is their fundamental right to dirty public places. This mindset has to change. Only then government initiatives, with public help, can be implemented," said
Mr. Antony, former Chief Secretary.
Speaking on the occasion, M.B.
Nirmal, the Exnora chief, "The only place where people of all religions, caste, economic status congregate, is the beach. It is imperative we protect our beaches. Our beaches are our treasure. We are fortunate, compared to other important cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore. It is our duty to protect our beaches. I wish Besant Nagar becomes Pleasant Nagar in a short time."
Karate Thiayagarajan, the Deputy Mayor, in his speech made a forceful plea for public co-operation.
 " 'Beautiful Chennai 2000' scheme was
initiated during the previous AIADMK regime. Under this scheme, the city was provided with sodium vapour lamps. The CM has allocated more money for the Tourism improvement. The onus is on us to make best
use of these funds. Public co-operation is essential for the success of any government scheme. Surat is today considered one of the cleanest cities in the country - following the plague epidemic, all the citizens joined together to clean up the city. We have a good airport. We have a number of tourist attractions, including lovely beaches. It is our responsibility to protect these and keep them clean to attract tourists".
The cost of cleaning up the beach was borne by the Tourism department. A refreshing part of the celebrations was the handing over of
bouquets to VIPs by the conservancy staff. We got the feeling the objective of the 'Beach Day' had been achieved, at the end of it. There was a huge gathering of people. All those who participated seemed determined to keep the beach clean, at least from now on!
Saravanan
Tr.Ellar
Published on 30th
April 2002
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