Dear Editor,
I would like to continue the discussion on the dismal state of No 63 beach. The reason why the beach and the surrounding environment is so dirty is simply because of lack of a positive development plan. How much would it take to clean up a five to eight-mile stretch of sand and the one-mile entrance road? Does this demand so much politics? Just hire a number of locals who are in large numbers unemployed. Get the job done first and talk later. For once, the committee should try this approach. I suggest that the following should be taken into consideration.
1. Employ a regular crew, anywhere from 5 to 10 people, to clean the beach, at least 2 to 3 times a week.
2. The entrance road should be more attractive; just clean up and resurface the road and plant palm trees on both sides.
3. As much as I condemn colonialism, promote that history of No 63 beach; there are some beautiful colonial buildings that are in terrible shape. For the readers who do not know No 63 beach, the entrance road was occupied with British colonials, and yes, they used the beach to cool off. Some of the colonial setting is still there but the houses are falling down.
4. Repair and paint the guest house that sits on the entrance road.
5. There are some beautiful trees on this road but they are not well groomed, so some work needs to be done there.
6. Establish a checkpoint and charge a fee to use the beach.
7. Enforce the environment laws, especially against littering and the dumping of waste.
8. Set up a donation fund.
9. Set aside a part of the beach for religious reasons. Some Hindus use the beach to carry out functions; this will give them a stake in beach and therefore they would be more likely to protect it and keep it clean.
Of course, you can add more to this list.
Yours faithfully,
Lomarsh Roopnarine
