Elliot’s Beach in Besant Nagar, fondly called Bessie, is known for its scenic beauty and bustling food stalls. The beach is also at the centre of a debate over environmental preservation and commercial activities.
As the number of visitors to the popular beach has increased over the years so have the restaurants, food trucks, and pushcart vendors along the promenade. The same is true for the food stalls within the beach area. This, combined with the lack of civic sense among beachgoers — particularly weekend visitors — has resulted in extensive littering of the beach premises.
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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) ordered many stall owners to shut down their operations in early July, leaving a mass of vacant stalls at the beach. This development came amidst a complex clash of interests between environmentalists, local vendors, and civic authorities.
The evolution of food stalls
Food stalls have been a part of Besant Nagar Beach for over a decade, evolving into a staple for snacks along the beach. Over time, stalls have increased, gradually occupying more space on the sand. As more stalls attract customers and increase consumption, the litter problem has worsened.
While there are environmental concerns, these food stalls are crucial for local vendors’ livelihoods. On Saturday (Aug 4), the GCC with help from local police, bulldozed around 50 stalls, which were close to the shoreline. In early July, the GCC had also shut down many of the vendors’ operations.
The GCC then installed a stretch of fence parallel to the shoreline in mid-July, in an attempt to prevent stalls from moving closer to the shoreline. Will shutting down vendors solve the problem? How can littering be prevented? These are complex questions that beg for answers.
The environmental impact on Elliot’s Beach
TD Babu, a marine biologist and co-founder of the civic forum SPARK, believes that without addressing the root cause of public littering, and public indifference, clean-up efforts are a futile solution.
“Unless you make people understand that they should not litter and that it will have an ecological impact, they will continue to litter, and another group will clear it continuously. It will be a never-ending process.”
The waste left behind by humans has attracted other critters to the beach, causing a myriad of other problems, according to Babu. Food scraps attract rats and stray dogs, which in turn disrupt the natural habitat. Rats encroach on areas inhabited by crabs, and dogs pose a threat to turtle hatchlings making their way from the beach to the ocean.
Babu also says that the solar lamps that illuminate the beach at night interfere with marine organisms’ natural behaviours, affecting their feeding and breeding patterns.
Clean-up drives, civic activism, and public responsibility
Bhumi is a civic organisation that hosts beach clean-ups in Chennai. Over the past three months, Bhumi has organised five clean-ups, focussing on the north end of the beach near Broken Bridge. Picnic-goers rarely litter this area but, it is instead affected by debris that originates from the ocean and the Adyar River, and is washed ashore.
The north end of Elliot’s Beach is a turtle nesting area, so Bhumi schedules more cleaning before the hatching season, between October and March.
“Even the corporation’s activity of cleaning is not enough to have a pristine beach,” said Raja Pandian, assistant manager at Bhumi.
So, these efforts are not just about removing debris, as debris will perpetually reappear. “How much ever you clean up the debris on the beach, it will be deposited back by the waves,” Raja said.
The clean-ups are largely about changing volunteers’ consciousness and discouraging them from littering in the future. Raja has gathered from conversations with volunteers that those who participate in clean-ups are less likely to litter and that this behaviour influences their social circles, as well.
Krithiga Viswanathan, a member of SPARK, emphasises the importance of public education in solving community issues. SPARK does not engage in beach cleaning activities but focusses on raising awareness and educating the public about the importance of environmental preservation. Krithiga stresses that citizens are primarily responsible for the litter on Elliot’s Beach and that educating the public is key to solving the problem.
“It is we who are generating the garbage,” Krithiga said. “It is primarily our responsibility how we manage our garbage.”
Regulation and livelihoods
The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 and its subsequent rules protect vendors’ rights while allowing the GCC to regulate the stalls. The Town Vending Committee, formed in 2023, represents vendors and ensures that they can continue their business within regulated zones.
The GCC updated vending zones earlier this year, heavily restricting legal vending zones in Besant Nagar, including the beach. As a result, the vast majority of beach vendors in Besant Nagar operate without the required permits.
Talking about the GCC shutdown of vendors on Elliot’s Beach earlier, C Thiruvettai, president of the Chennai Street Vendors Association, says that the police did not cite one single reason for shutting the stalls down but instead gave vendors different reasons for why they were being shut down.
Shutting down not a solution
As of late July, many of the vendors had returned to their stalls, and continued to serve customers. According to Thiruvettai, the vendors who were shut down can go to GCC, to pay a fine, and get a vending card, allowing them to return and continue their business.
“The Corporation needs to show that they are active,” Thiruvettai said. “Shutting down the stalls is just to put on record that they are regulating.”
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Street regulation is subject to constant change and contention, though Thiruvettai believes that regulators should consider the larger context regarding shutting down food stalls.
“India has a huge stretch of shoreline,” Thiruvettai said. “Besant Nagar is about one kilometre. Marina is about three kilometres away. We’re talking about four kilometres out of thousands of kilometres. This has to do with people’s livelihood. Do not use littering as a reason to shut us down.”
Need for an inclusive solution
As the debate continues, finding a sustainable solution that preserves Besant Nagar Beach’s ecology while supporting the livelihoods of local vendors remains a significant challenge.
- Enhance public education and awareness campaigns: Launch public education campaigns to raise awareness about the environmental impact of littering and the importance of maintaining cleanliness at the beach. Install more signage to dissuade littering, and partner with local organisations like SPARK and Bhumi to facilitate community outreach.
- Implement sustainable waste management measures: Increase the number of waste bins and ensure they are regularly emptied. Introduce segregated waste collection for recyclable and non-recyclable materials. Additionally, provide incentives for vendors to use eco-friendly, compostable packaging.
- Construct a barrier that extends further across the beach, ensure that the vendors stay behind the barricade, and encourage beach visitors to eat behind the barricade. This would centralise more of the litter.
- Discuss the possibility of relocating stalls to the promenade, or creating a centralised dining area. GCC should work closely with all street vending associations to ensure that they do not lose business due to relocating.