Surat: Health and sanitation teams of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), along with volunteers from NGOs, collected nearly 300 kg of litter from the Dumas Sea Face on Sunday evening after heavy weekend footfall at the newly developed beachfront.

Civic officials said the garbage accumulated over two days as thousands of visitors thronged the sea face during the weekend. Sanitation workers cleared most of the waste within hours after the crowd dispersed.

According to officials, more than 30,000 people visited the Dumas Sea Face over the weekend. The spot has long been a popular picnic destination, and the recently developed beachfront has attracted even larger crowds.

Although dustbins were placed at multiple locations, the large number of visitors exceeded the available capacity, leading to plastic bags, cups, food packets and disposable plates being scattered across the area.

To promote cleanliness, the SMC deployed 15 supervisors and around 80 NGO volunteers, including members of Shantadevi Charitable Trust, Chiranjivi Foundation and Surbin Trust. Volunteers formed groups, used loudspeakers and appealed to visitors to avoid littering.

Despite the awareness drive, waste was left at several spots, officials said, adding that most of the cleaning was completed on Sunday night and the remaining work was finished on Monday morning.