Sunday clean-up : Akkarai beach

Social activist Rajeshkanna emailed these images of the Akkarai beach on ECR his volunteer friends plan to tackle this Sunday (May 12). His friend Suresh Kumar  SMS-ed that 50 plus volunteers - mostly from TCS, HCL and Wipro - have already signed up for the two-hour beach cleaning drive. Akkarai beach this Sunday evening seems to be the place to be in, if you want to make a social statement with your presence; if you wish to be seen, and interact with like-minded enthusiasts with environmental concerns.
Remember Rajeshkanna ? When OMR Greens organized a Padur Walk Rajesh, with his wife and three-year-old daughter, played a pro-active role sticking placards at Padur street-corner and spreading the message,  word-of-mouth, among passers-by who cared to give him a hearing.
Rajesh and wife have been leading the Akkarai beach clean-up drive every Sunday evening since March 23. They started with a handful of children from their apartment complex in Sholnganallur.  From the second weeks more children, with parents joined in, with trash bags and gloves, to get rid of a small, but demonstrative, stretch of the beach, of its litter of plastics. The clean-up is carried out, Sunday evening - 4.30 p m till 6.30, when the beach is filled with visitors.
With their beach clean-up drive Rajeshkanna and his band of volunteers have been able to persuade the Chennai Corporation to place trash bins at strategic points on the beach.
Sunday Plan:
May 12 beach clean-up takes place on Akkarai, Shyamala Garden Avenue Road. Nearest bus stop: Water Tank stop on ECR.
Time - 4.30 pm till 6.30 p m
Volunteers can send SMS 9884244423/9884244483 or email rajeshreshi@gmail.com.
Contact Suresh Kumar 9843677487

Akkarai, ECR, beach cleanup

Rajeshkanna, a friend and OMR Greens contact in Sholinganallur, sent us this mail:  "Yesterday (Sun.April 4) was the best day in the last 4 weeks....Next cleanup event on coming Sunday 21-04-2013 4:45PM-5:45PM...Volunteers can send SMS to 9884244423/9884244483 for confirming your presence or send an email to rajeshreshi@gmail.com

Rajesh, with his wife and 3-year-old daughter,  had came all the way on their moterbike, from Perumbakkam,  to join OMR Greens Padur Walk some weeks back.  A software professional with an IT company on OMR,  Rajeshkanna is a proactive green enthusiast  who responds to other people's call, when he is not organizing an event of his own. He is now in the midst of a beach clean-up campaign at Akkarai (Sholinganallur) on Sundays. The six-week drive would continue every Sunday evening ( 4.15 p m till 5.15 p m) till May 12.

I would let Rajeshkanna describe their work in his own words:
Dear Friends, 2 Weeks back we went to Akkarai, ECR Beach with our Apartment kids and saw lots of plastic bags and garbage littered on the Beach...On a Sunday(Mar 23rd 2013) we decided to clean the beach with 6 kids and started the cleanup to create awareness among people visiting the beach.
In My apartment all the kids showed interest .... on Sunday, March 31, we have done the cleanup again with 11 kids and 4 Parents. We will be going to AKKARAI beach  every Sunday 4PM for next 6 weeks...We will be talking to the people on the beach....you could please join with us. Also We are approaching the Panchayat for placing dustbins and for regular garbage removal.