Chennai: Those looking to volunteer for beach-cleanup activities on weekends can do so by merely registering themselves through ‘Kadal Pottis’ — QR-embedded mini stalls to be set up by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) in collaboration with the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI) at prominent beaches in the city.The first stall was set up near the Lighthouse on Saturday — the International Day for Coastal Cleanup. The initiative is a part of the GCC-EFI’s Blue-Green Chennai initiative through which the civic body plans to raise awareness among the public on wildlife, coastal and waterbodies’ protection. Last week, city walls in prominent areas, including Adyar, Kovalam and Sholinganallur, were decked up with paintings of wildlife as part of the drive.“Awareness among people and volunteers’ participation are crucial to sustainable management of Chennai’s beaches. As part of the first phase, more of these units will be set up over the weekend at Kovalam and near Ashtalakshmi beach (Besant Nagar). The EFI organises beach clean-up activities every Friday and during weekends. The registration will help more people join the drive,” Arun Krishnamurthy, EFI founder, said.GCC commissioner G Sameeran said the initiative would be expanded to more beaches within the city and more such units would be set up in future.Arun said plans were afoot to expand the initiative to Kovalam, Mahabalipuram, Kalpakkam and Kottakuppam beaches of Chengalpet and Villupuram as well in collaboration with district authorities. “Soon, the units will be upgraded to dispatch cleaning kits, including gloves and bags for people to clean beaches instantaneously instead of waiting. After doing so, they can also post selfies of their clean-up drives,” he added.
