Sandip Bal (BOMBAY TIMES; September 25, 2019)

Bollywood actor Vidyut Jammwal and actor-director Nandita Das were in Puri early on Monday morning to be part of the biggest beach clean-up campaign carried out along the 100-km coastline of the district. Over 20,000 volunteers cleaned up beaches at 100 different locations along the coastline.

The campaign was part of the Odisha government’s Mo Beach-Puri initiative. People from Puri and adjoining areas joined the campaign in large numbers. According to concerned officials, they had targeted a participation of around 10,000 volunteers, but the latest data from the 100 locations pegged that number at over 20,000.

Vidyut and Nandita praised the state government for its effort to clean up the beaches and urged people to keep them clean. “It’s a beautiful occasion and the participation of so many people is a great thing. The beach looks really clean. What we need from now on is to keep it clean and litter-free. We must stop using plastic. The sea gives us so much. In return, we must ensure that we are not giving it dirt,” Vidyut said.

Odisha Film Development Corporation chairman and actor Kuna Tripathy and Sulagna Routray anchored the event. State forest and environment minister Bikram Keshari Arukh, local MLA Jayant Sarangi, tourism secretary Vishal Deb and district collector Balwant Singh were also present.