Workers clean the Puri beach on Sunday. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 2: The project to clean Puri beach began today in the presence of local residents near Digabareni Square.

The tourism department, to make the effort effective and interactive, has formed a monitoring committee consisting of 10 senior citizens to report and suggest better ways to do the job.

Tourism and culture minister Maheswar Mohanty, who represents the city in the state Assembly, launched the project. Bhubaneswar-based Jagruti — an organisation dealing with solid waste management and cleaning — will implement the project.

The tourism department will spend Rs 97 lakh per year and the contract will be effective for the next 10 years.

Launching the project, Mohanty said: “As a resident of Puri, it is my duty to ensure a better beachfront as tourism has changed the economy of the city. We should cooperate with the agency and the Puri Municipality to make the place beautiful and healthy.’’

Tourism director cum-joint secretary M.R. Patnaik said: “We respect people’s views on cleaning quality. Apart from the 10-member monitoring committee there will be a feedback monitoring at the control room established for the beach cleaning process. We will check comments of people at regular intervals.’’

Chief of Jagruti, Suvendu Mohapatra, said: “This is our first job in beach cleaning. We will create a benchmark through the execution of this project.’’

For the first three months both manual and mechanical modes will be used to clean the beach. Later, the entire process will become mechanised.

“We are importing beach cleaning equipment. Once the consignment arrives, the process will become mechanised,’’ Mohapatra told The Telegraph.

Puri Municipality executive officer Rajendra Patnaik said steps to clean the Bada Danda (Grand Road) would also be undertaken.

Municipality sources said a detailed project report was being prepared.

Municipality chairman Jayanta Kumar Sadangi said: “The civic body in co-ordination with the tourism department has placed garbage bins in front of hotels along the beach so that solid waste collection is streamlined.”

Speaking about spreading the project to other beaches, Patnaik said: “We had to cancel the tender process for cleaning Gopalpur and Chandrabhaga beaches as the bidders had quoted exaggerated rates.” However, a senior official said that collectors of Ganjam, Puri and Balasore districts had been given fundsto engage local agencies to keep the beaches at Gopalpur, Konark, Chandipur and Talsari (near Chandaneswar) clean.