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The National Cadet Corps (NCC), the largest uniformed youth organization in India, has inked a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to reuse plastic waste collected by the NCC cadets during its latest campaign ‘Puneet Sagar Abhiyan’ for construction of roads by NHAI across the country.
The month-long Puneet Sagar Abhiyan was started on December 1 by NCC to clean the seashores and beaches off the plastic & other wastes materials. The campaign will increase awareness about the importance of keeping the seashores free from plastic wastes across the country. According to the Defence ministry, 3.4 lakh NCC cadets from 127 coastal area NCC units have so far collected approximately six tons of plastic waste. The collected plastic wastes will be handed over to NHAI, which afterwards will be used in road construction.
The MoU between NCC and NHAI was signed and exchanged on December 17 by Director General of NCC Lt Gen Gurbirpal Singh and NHAI’s Chief General Manager Sushil Kumar Mishra. To utilise the expertise of premium institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), NCC has also approached IITs and other premier institutes for their cooperation in recycling and gainful utilisation of the plastic wastes collected.
Notably, IIT Kharagpur has already joined the initiative to extend its technical expertise. Further, NCC is also approaching NGOs that are involved in recycling of plastic wastes, one of them is Odisha Yuva Chetana Sangathhan, which has also agreed to provide assistance. Additionally, NCC has also approached IITs and NIITs for their cooperation in recycling the collected plastic waste and for beneficial use.
Apart from physically cleaning the beaches, the NCC cadets have also taken up mass awareness campaigns to educate the people regarding the cleanliness of beaches, the harmful effects of plastic use and the damage plastic is doing to our natural resources.
On October 02, 2014, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to highlight the imperativeness of cleanliness in the surroundings. The National Cadet Corps has also been at the forefront of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyans. NCC now has launched a nationwide campaign Puneet Sagar Abhiyan to clean seas shores/beaches of the plastic waste & other waste along the sea shores and increase awareness about the importance of keeping our seas free from plastic waste.
The campaign aims to propagate the message of importance of ‘clean sea shores/beaches’ amongst the local population and future generation. Under the initiative, various cleanliness drives have been/will be launched, awareness and educational activities will also be organised. Further, the NCC cadets will interact with the general public, tourists, local shopkeepers/vendors and fishermen along the coastal areas to spread awareness on the ill effects of beach littering and its adverse harmful impact to the environment.
Other activities include pamphlet distribution to increase awareness about sea beach pollution and its adverse effect; pledge or oath taking and signature campaigns wherein cadets will administer pledges amongst the target population and tourists to keep the beaches clean; and cultural programs, nukkad nataks and rallies or foot patrols will be conducted. Further, adequate placards and props will be used drive home the message of importance of clean sea beaches.