BHUBANESWAR: The state government has imposed a blanket ban on the use of polythene and gutkha packets
on Puri beach. The move to keep the tourist spot clean and
pollution-free came after a proposal by the Puri district
administration’s beach development committee (BDC).

The state
forest and environment department passed the order on Tuesday. “We will
convene a meeting with district officials and BDC members for
enforcement of the rule. Beach vendors and tourists would be sensitized
not to use polythene on the beach,” Puri civic body’s chairperson
Shantilata Pradhan said.

Though Puri earns the distinction of
having the largest sprawling beach in the eastern region of country,
cleanliness of the beach is a major cause for concern. The dirty beach
is taking its toll on annual footfall of foreigners for whom the beach
was the only source of recreation in Puri. While around 60 lakh tourists
visit Puri annually, only around 40,000 of them are from foreign
countries.

“Disgusted over the unclean beach, foreigners are not
willing to visit Puri again. That is the reason why we never find
foreigners touring Puri repeatedly. All the overseas visitors are
newcomers,” said Ramakrushna Dasmohapatra, president of Hotel Association of Puri.

A group of foreign tourists had left the Puri district administration
red-faced by taking up cleaning activity on beach in 2009. Holding
placards in hands they expressed their displeasure over the shabby
condition of beach and picked up garbage and dumped it in dust bins. The
district administration had then hurriedly convened a meeting and taken
a few face-saving measures to keep the beach clean. But the situation
has not changed, as visually-insulting beach continues to scare away
tourists in large numbers.

“We hope things will be better after
the polythene ban. Municipality sweepers, voluntary organizations and
hotel labourers are carrying out cleaning on the beach regularly. The
district administration is also taking steps to keep the beach free from
unauthorized vendors,” Puri tourist officer Bijaya Kumar Jena said.