Dr Jitendra Singh meets Union Ministers and MPs from coastal states for ongoing countrywide Coastal Clean Up Campaign launched by Ministry of Earth Sciences
Dr Jitendra Singh appeals to achieve the target to remove 1,500 tonnes of garbage mainly single use plastic from the sea coasts on 17th September by mobilising more than 75,000 people, students, civil society members and environment activists among others
Union Minister of
State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State
(Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances,
Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today convened a meeting
of Union Ministers and Members of Parliament from coastal states of the country
to discuss the ongoing countrywide Coastal Clean Up Campaign launched by the
Ministry of Earth Sciences from 5th July, 2022.
Dr Jitendra Singh
said, this is a mass campaign and sought everybody's view as to how best to further
strengthen the campaign which has already caught the imagination of the masses
and the nation. He said, the Ministry of Earth Sciences is spearheading it but
at the same time seeking "whole of government" approach.
Among the
Ministers, Bhupender Yadav, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change,
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jal Shakti Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of
Health and Family Welfare, Parshottam Rupala, Minister of Fisheries, Animal
Husbandry and Dairying, V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External
Affairs, L. Murugan MoS attended meeting along with MPs from large number of
coastal States.
A brief
presentation was also made. A mobile app “Eco Mitram” has been launched to
spread awareness about the campaign and also for the common people for
voluntary registration for the beach cleaning activity on the 17th September
2022. Through this campaign, a mass behavioural change among the masses is
intended by raising awareness about how plastic usage is destroying our marine
life.
Dr Jitendra Singh
informed the Central Ministers and MPs that 75 days long campaign launched from
5th to raise awareness about “Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar” will culminate on
"International Coastal Clean-up Day" on 17th September 2022. He said,
on 17th April, which incidentally is also birthday of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi celebrated as “Sewa Diwas” in the country, a massive clean-up drive will
be carried out at 75 beaches across the country with 75 volunteers for every
kilometre of the coastline. He also added that this year’s event also coincides
with the celebrations of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in 75th year of the country’s
independence.
All the
participants in the meeting supported the idea of Dr Jitendra Singh to achieve
the target to remove 1,500 tonnes of garbage, mainly single use plastic from
the sea coasts on 17th September by mobilising more than 75,000 people,
students, civil society members and environment activists among others.
It was also
recalled that in line with the clarion call given by Prime Minister to phase
out single use plastic items by 2022, Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, Government of India notified the Plastic Waste Management
Amendment Rules, 2021, on 12 August 2021 and the Ministry announced on 28th
June that India will ban manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and
use of identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high
littering potential, all across the country from July 1, 2022.
The Ministers and
the MPs pledged full support to the first-of-its-kind and longest running
coastal clean-up campaign in the world and they also advised the Ministry of
Earth Sciences to undertake a cycle rally, students rally by involving local
NGOs.
All the related
agencies have come together to sensitise over 200 ports, fishing harbours and
6100 lighthouses about the ongoing coastal clean-up drive and they should pitch
in a big way on 17th April to make the "International Coastal Clean-up
Day" a grand success.
Fish landing
centres in all coastal areas in the country are being aligned with the coastal
Swachhata drive. On 17 September, 75 fish landing centres will take part in the
clean-up campaign by mobilising all resources.
Ministers and MPs
from Kerala and Tamil Nadu promised to give full support to the coastal
clean-up mission even during the ongoing monsoon season. They said, volunteers
along with students will be mobilised in coming weeks.
Many Members of Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha from Coastal States also came up with noble suggestions
which the Union Minister of Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh promised to
integrate with the coastal swachhata campaign.
In his concluding
remarks, Dr Jitendra Singh reminded the Ministers and MPs about the Prime
Minister’s address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15th August, 2019, when
he called upon the countrymen, “Remembering revered Bapu, we should move out of
home collecting single-use plastic from homes, streets, chowks, and drains.
Municipalities, Municipal corporations, Gram Panchayat should make arrangements
to collect single-use plastic. Can we take the first big step on 2nd October,
towards making India free from single-use plastic”? Modi also requested
start-up organizations, technicians and entrepreneurs to see what could be done
to recycle this plastic and at the same time urged the people to promote jute
and cloth bags.
This campaign is
being spearheaded by Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Ministry of Environment
Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Indian Coast
Guard, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Seema Jagran Manch, SFD,
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Paryavaran Sanrakshan Gatividhi
(PSG), along with other social organizations and educational institutions.