Marina gets prepped for Republic Day parade

After the police started evicting the protesters on January 23, conservancy workers from the Corporation began clearing the massive piles of garbage dotting the beach. Subodh Kumar, Regional Deputy Commissioner (Central), said the conservancy personnel have been working overnight. 

“We have deployed additional manpower from various zones. More than 1,200 staff have been working night and day to clear the beach. As many as 50 vehicles have been as signed for the task. On Tuesday, most of the beach was cleaned up,” said the official. 

Meanwhile, on Tuesday around 50 people were still protesting on the beach. Bharathi Kannan, a 30-year-old agriculturist who was present at the spot to show his solidarity, said, “The youngsters are demanding that the police, who were engaged in atrocities, apologise to the protesters and not take action on those remanded to custody. Some of the families are taking away their children. The public have not been allowed to enter the beach, as the police have barricaded the entries.” However, when contacted, a senior police official said, “The beach will be back to normal and open to public very soon.” 

Meanwhile, regular vendors said many of them haven’t been to the beach in the last few days. Ramesh, who owns a fast food shack on the beach, said, “Even on Tuesday, we heard that the beach was closed to the public. Most of us haven’t been to the beach since a week now. Hopefully, it will be back to normal from today (Wednesday),” he said.