Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Dec 29: Enamoured by the beautiful Chitrapura beach, Emma Fernandes, a citizen of Belgium, has undertaken the task of cleaning this beach. She is staying here for ten days to get fully engaged in the work of collecting the waste on the beach.

Emma is a psychiatrist by profession. She had visited NIMHANS Bengaluru in the past for training. She married Denzil Fernandes from Urwa here, after getting acquainted with him when he helped her to secure a train ticket. She resides in Belgium but has a house in Bengaluru too.

Emma comes here every year and stays in a private resort at Chitrapura. She provides treatment to her patients on video online. During the morning leisure time she picks waste things found at Chitrapura beach. Because of coronavirus, she could not go back to Belgium as planned, she revealed.

Emma has visited a number of beaches in India and abroad. She loves Chitrapura beach very much and that is why she visits this beach every year. She says she collects several bags of garbage every day and looks up to Gopal K Baliga (74), who picks waste for three hours at Chitrapura beach every day as her inspiration. Emma wants the government to provide toilet and other facilities at the beach and hopes that Chitrapura beach will be able to get Blue Flag certification.

She says that pieces of nylon rope used to pull nets can play havoc with the environment as well as animals and birds. She feels rather than throwing them away, the people should collect them in a bag. She also says that people addicted to liquor, gutkha etc also throw away the waste everywhere including the beach.

Emma said that whichever beach she visits she collects waste two hours every day. She feels that if all the tourists do this, the beaches can become cleaner and more attractive.