A group of environment activists removed water hyacinth which thrived on pools of stagnant sewage on Vaigai river near Kuruvikaran Salai on Sunday morning.
The volunteers — members of Vaigai Nadhi Makkal Iyakkam and children from neighbouring Asari Thoppu — pulled out the water hyacinth. “We are doing this as a form of protest against the failure of Madurai Corporation in removing water hyacinth from the river as it has become a major source of mosquito breeding,” said its chief coordinator M. Rajan. The volunteers carried a red flag as mark of protest.
“We have sent messages to the Corporation WhatsApp helpline highlighting the urgent need to remove the weeds. But it has fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
Pointing to the civic body’s ambitious project of beautifying the city with colourful paintings on walls, Mr. Rajan said the Corporation had equal responsibility to keep the city clean. “It is the local body that has been pumping huge sewage into the city at 58 points between Vilangudi and Anna Nagar. It has the responsibility to clear the water hyacinth that grows only in polluted water,” Mr. Rajan said.
Another volunteer, Balaji, said water flowed in the Vaigai only twice in a year, during the monsoons. During the rest of the year, it carried only sewage. “The stagnant sewage has been breeding mosquitoes. Hence we removed some of the blocks that prevented free flow of sewage water,” he said.
The boys among the volunteers — T. Ajith Kumar, T. Abeeshkumar and M. Manikandan — who did their bit for the good cause, said they could not sleep at night as hundreds of mosquitoes swarmed their houses every day. “We will be scratching our body the whole night as mosquitoes bite us constantly,” Ajith Kumar said.
