VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

Powered by hydraulic pressure due to copious rains in a short period on 1st and 3rd May, massive quantities of plastics has come down from the geddas and landed at our beaches. Some 20% of it will have reached the sea waters by now and half of that may be pushed back ashore over a series of high tides. Certainly a large portion will remain in the sea destroying our marine life. Tactically now will be the best time to remove as much plastics as possibl e from the gedda-beach-sea ecosystem. We can turn this disaster into an opportunity by grabbing and removing as much of this rubbish as possible. The red mud that washed towards the beach can be handled later, it would be better to put all of GVMC's resources into capturing the plastics when we can and take them out of the system. WE MUST ACT URGENTLY.

V izagites have a love affair with plastic and it’s not only on Valentine Day. Look around and see the ubiquitous water bottles, water sachets, milk sachets, plastic bags, tea cups, and Styrofoam plates. Plastics are in mounds everywhere, from Akkayapalem to Andhra University, from Dabagardens to Dwarakanagar, from RK beach to Railway Station, from Gajuwaka to Gopalpatnam. They lie in heaps - at the tiffin, tea and panipoori shops, stuffed into Vizag’s drains and geddas, strewn across our once pristine beaches, at RTC bus stands, alongside our roads and rail tracks, on every empty plot of land and at temples where prasadam and offerings are made accompanied by some sort of plastic. In fact our beaches today still shows the ravages of the recent Shiva Rathri when lakhs bathed themselves in our sacred bay. The trouble with plastics Plastics are a headache to get rid of. They are not soluble in water and they just do not decompose or deteriorate easily. So every time we throw a...

Please leave our beach alone In the 1970’s, ‘80s and early ‘90s one went to the RK beach for some peace and quiet, it was a place for reflection, for rejuvenation and for recharging the spirits of those who wanted to take a short break from the hustle and bustle of the city. A place for recreation It is difficult to believe but the beach was lonely and quiet then. All sorts of Vizagites went there during the day or night. Businessmen irked with the pressures of work life rode their rickety Vespas to the beach road and parked there for a while. Listening to the sounds of the waves they found some solace. After puffing on a Charminar, they went back to work greatly refreshed. In the late afternoons, young men and women, with raging hormones, sat on the sand necking. As evening descended, a couple of beat constables set out on their bicycles to cover their territory from RK Beach to Palm Beach. No fancy “beach police” cooling their heels in jeeps like now. When they cycle co...