india

Updated: Oct 12, 2019 10:14 IST

Sending out a strong message for fitness and cleanliness, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his day early on Saturday with plogging on the beach in Tamil Nadu’s Mamallapuram on the second day of his two-day informal summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping.

“Plogging at a beach in Mamallapuram this morning. It lasted for over 30 minutes. Also handed over my ‘collection’ to Jeyaraj, who is a part of the hotel staff. Let us ensure our public places are clean and tidy! Let us also ensure we remain fit and healthy,” the Prime Minister tweeted with a video of his walk.

Plogging is a combination of jogging/walking with picking up litter. It started as an organised activity in Sweden around 2016 and spread to other countries in 2018, following increased concern about plastic pollution.

Plogging at a beach in Mamallapuram this morning. It lasted for over 30 minutes.



Also handed over my ‘collection’ to Jeyaraj, who is a part of the hotel staff.



Let us ensure our public places are clean and tidy!



Let us also ensure we remain fit and healthy. pic.twitter.com/qBHLTxtM9y — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 12, 2019

In the video PM Modi is seen picking up litter at a beach near Taj Fisherman’s Cove Resort and Spa where he is staying. The Prime Minister also tweeted a set photos of the scenic beach captioning it: “Refreshing walk and exercises in Mamallapuram, along the scenic coast.” He can be seen walking bare feet on the sandy beach and in water enjoying the coastal morning.

PM Modi is set to meet Xi in one-on-one and also delegation level talks later in the day. The summit will be wrapped up with a lunch after which Xi is scheduled to fly to Nepal. This is the second unstructured summit between the two dignitaries, first being in the city of Wuhan in April 2018.

On Friday, the two leaders took a tour of ancient monuments at the 1,400-year-old temple complex by the sea where they visited– Arjuna’s Penance, Panch Ratha and the Shore Temple. They also watched a cultural programme before attending the dinner at the Shore Temple complex.

The private dinner between that capped the first day of the India-China informal summit on Friday lasted more than double the scheduled duration. An indication that both sides were making efforts to work out differences that have recently strained ties because of China’s strong support to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue over the past few weeks.