300 sanitary workers clean up Marina beach for walkers, Republic day parade

Chennai: Substandard civil contract works taken up at Marina and the unruly behaviour of protesters have affected the landscape of Marina beach.

Park fencing and tiles along the road median have been damaged extensively.
Little respite came from the city corporation as the civic body had pressed more than 300 sanitary workers to clean the beach on Monday and Tuesday on round-the-clock shift basis.

The beach is ready for morning walkers and the Republic Day celebrations. There are some maintenance works to be completed along the service lane. The landscape near Gandhi statue and the skating rink has been spoilt and are attended to, a corporation official said.

“We are also attending the subways and faulty streetlights. Further, the gusty winds have also resulted in accumulation of beach sand along the service lane and this was cleared by Tuesday night,” the official added.

“Several footpaths along the service road are missing their tiles and need a replacement. Lavatory facilities on the beach are not maintained properly. The stench hits you in the face and there are leaky pipelines crying out for better upkeep”, said S. Ganesh, a local resident of Foreshore Estate.