National Cadet Corps (NCC) is carrying out a nationwide campaign to free seashores/beaches from plastic & other waste materials and increase awareness about importance of keeping these clean. The aim of the month-long ‘Puneet Sagar’Campaign is to propagate the message of ‘Importance of Clean Seashores/Beaches’ amongst the local population and future generation beginning December 01, 2021.
During the first week of the Abhiyan from December 01, the NCC cadets participated with enthusiasm and vigour to clean the plastic waste along the seashores in coastal areas. The cadets made efforts with the help of nukkadnataks, poetry recitation, etc to generate awareness and educate the target population about measures for conservation and impact of plastic pollution along the sea beaches. Cadets also made a deliberate effort to sensitise and mobilise support of local populace in preventing of pollution of sea beaches through one-on-one contact.
During this week almost 30,000 cadets from eight coastal NCC directoratesparticipated in the Abhiyan. The cadets of Eastern Coastal regions braved the rough weather conditions arising due to ‘Cyclone Jawad’ to fulfil their moral duty towards the Nation and the environment. The cadets cleaned the beaches and gathered almost 900 kilogrammes of plastic waste in the process and reached out to almost two lakh citizens planting seeds of cleanliness and awareness about evils of plastic waste in their hearts and minds. Details of participation are given as Appx A.
The cadets will continue to put in maximum effort in the cleanliness of beaches and raising of awareness amongst the citizens till the end of the year and ensure a cleaner and greener tomorrow.
In addition to sweating out on the ground at the beaches the cadets also made an effort to ignite the spark of cleanliness in the local populace through public interaction, pamphlet distribution, pledge/oath taking/signature campaigns and cultural programmes/nukkadnataks/rallies.
The campaign was extensively covered in the social media through Whatsappand twitter messages with the hashtag #puneetsagar.Being the first week of the movement, the activities have started picking up momentum and more number of institutes and populace has started joining NCC cadets to be part of this Abhiyan.
Appx A
| S No. | NCC StateDte | Cadets Participated | Plastic waste collected (Kg) | Alumni/ Public figure involved | No of Locations | Population Impacted | |||
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | 1123 | 140 | 3 | 12,000 | ||||
| 2 | Gujarat | 5455 | 126 | 2 | 52,000 | ||||
| 3 | Karnataka and Goa | 2580 | 194 | 2 | 3,600 | ||||
| 4 | Kerala and Lakshadweep | 4320 | 150 | Asst Director, Trivandrum District Tourism | 2 | 4,500 | |||
| 5 | Maharashtra | 8255 | 113 | 2 | 81,000 | ||||
| 6 | Odisha | 1025 | 110 | 2 | 10,400 | ||||
| 7 | Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar | 3225 | 100 | 2 | 5,000 | ||||
| 8 | West Bengal and Sikkim | 2125 | 130 | 4 | 25,000 | ||||
| Total | 28108 | 1063 | 19 | 1,93,500 | |||||