More than 4,000 empty liquor bottles and hundreds of broken bottle pieces were collected from the Singanallur Tank bund during the cleanliness drive that was organised by the volunteers of Animal Rescuers, an NGO, and sanitary workers of Coimbatore Corporation on Sunday and Monday.
The collected bottles were sent for recycling.
The bottles were collected as part of the continuous drive initiated by the NGO from last Sunday to make the lake clean.
The volunteers started collecting bottles from near the Boat House and carried on for a stretch of 2.5 km on the bund. On Sunday, they collected bottles from 7.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. They resumed worked on Monday morning and removed bottles for a couple of hours.
“We have completed collecting bottles from a major portion of the bund and the remaining portion will be completed next Sunday,” says Director of Animal Rescuers Vinny R. Peter.
The bund has a drop gate that restricts entry of four-wheelers. But, there is space for two-wheelers to gain access to isolated places on the bund.
Ms. Vinny said that alcoholics frequent the bund in groups from as early as 7.30 a.m.
“Sadly, most of them are college students. The alcoholics not only break the bottles,they also discard plastic covers, plastic cups and carry bags that pollute the lake,” the environmental activist who is doing Ph.D. on the biodiversity of the lake said.
Singanallur Police patrol the bund twice a day in the morning and in the evening. People of Nanjappa Nagar close to the bund said that the alcoholics flee the place when the police personnel come there and are back when the police are gone.
“It should be made a ‘liquor-free zone’. Signboards should be kept on the bund and stringent action should be taken against offenders,” Ms.Vinny said.
The NGO has taken the issue to the notice of the corporation.
The police too have assured to step up vigil at that stretch, which is not frequented by people for a major part of the day. They have also suggested involvement of people of the localities close to the bund to keep away strangers who misuse the place.
Keeping off alcoholics from the 288 acre lake and maintaining it clean is important as hundreds of school students will be coming to the Urban Nature Interpretation and Education Centre of Coimbatore Corporation that would be functional there with cooperation of the NGO, from the first week of July, to help students study the biodiversity of the lake.
