Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

30,000 NCC Cadets Clean India’s Beaches Under Puneet Sagar Abhiyan; 14 States and UTs Benefitted

December 7, 2021

Beginning December 1, around 30,000 NCC cadets are cleaning India’s beaches under Puneet Sagar Abhiyan to raise awareness about keeping country’s coastline clean. In the month-long campaign, the cadets have so far cleaned the beaches of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, Kerala and Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar, and West Bengal and Sikkim, impacting a population of 1,93,500. ”The aim of Puneet Sagar campaign is to propagate the message of the importance of clean seashores and beaches among the local population and future generations,” a Defence Ministry statement said.

In the first week of the Puneet Sagar campaign, almost 30,000 NCC cadets from eight coastal NCC directorates participated in the programme. The cadets of Eastern Coastal regions braved the rough weather conditions due to cyclone Jawad, cleaned the beaches, gathered almost 900 kg of plastic waste, reached out to almost 2 lakh citizens, and spread the message of cleanliness and awareness about the evils of plastic waste.

Through nukkad nataks,and poetry recitation, the cadets are generating awareness and educating the target population about measures for conservation and impact of plastic pollution along the sea beaches. They are also making an attempt to sensitise and mobilise local population in preventing pollution on beaches through one-on-one contact.

Puneet Sagar was extensively covered in social media through Whatsapp and Twitter messages with the hashtag #puneetsagar. From the first week of the movement, the activities started picking up momentum and more institutes and population joined the cadets in the campaign.