Surat: Health and sanitation teams of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), along with volunteers from NGOs, collected around 300kg of litter from the Dumas Sea Face on Sunday evening, after the site got droves of visitors on the weekend.Civic officials said the litter was generated during the two-day weekend as thousands of visitors came to the newly developed beachfront. Sanitation teams cleared the litter within hours after the visitors left.Officials estimate more than 30,000 people visited the Sea Face over the weekend. Dumas has long been a popular picnic spot and the newly opened beachfront section has drawn even larger crowds, with many picnickers visiting. While many visitors used dustbins after having their food on the lawn, the large crowd overwhelmed the available bins. As a result, plastic bags, cups, pouches and disposable plates were seen scattered across many places.To spread awareness about cleanliness, the SMC deployed 15 supervisors and around 80 volunteers from NGOs including Shantadevi Charitable Trust, Chiranjivi Foundation and Surbin Trust. Volunteers formed groups to urge visitors not to litter and used loudspeakers to spread awareness messages.“Despite these awareness efforts, litter was left in the open at several places. Our teams carried out a swift clean-up and most of the waste was removed on Sunday night, while the rest of the cleaning was completed on Monday morning,” an SMC official said.
