GVMC focuses on making Vizag coastline more attractive

Visakhapatnam: Underlining that Visakhapatnam city is symbolic of a beautiful beach coastline and Blue Flag certified beaches, GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg instructed engineering and public health officials to take up further measures to improve the beach stretches.

He directed the officials concerned to ensure that waste does not enter the beach through drains during rains.

On Tuesday, the Commissioner along with chief medical officer ENV Naresh Kumar, zonal commissioner K. Shiva Prasad, and supervising engineer PVV Satyanarayana Raju inspected the entire stretch of RK Beach. During the inspection, the Commissioner emphasised that the beach area, being an icon of Visakhapatnam with its Blue Flag status, should be made even more attractive and eco-friendly by maintaining cleanliness along the stretches.

He noted that during rains, waste and sewage were flowing into the beach through road openings and drains, especially near Pandurangapuram, and YMCA beach areas. He directed the officials to prepare detailed proposals to construct a channel along the beach to prevent such contamination. Observing that the sewage pump house near Pandurangapuram beach was not functioning for the past few days, he said that proposals should be made with immediate effect for the repairs so that sewage gets diverted to the treatment plant and only treated water enters the sea.

Also, the need to replace existing meshes in the drains with stronger ones to stop waste getting into the beach was stressed.

The Commissioner instructed sanitary inspector Govind Rao to educate sanitation workers and encouraged them to improve their working methods.

Reviewing the performance of the mini sweeping machine cleaning the footpath along the beach, the Commissioner said that the functioning of the machines have to be thoroughly monitored.

In Visakhapatnam, there are approximately 20 points along the beach stretches where untreated sewage gets into the sea directly.