The bunds of Sellur tank, which was filled with garbage and seemai karuvelam growth till a week back, sports a clean look now, thanks to the tireless 10-day efforts of Vaa Nanba, a city-based group of volunteers.
The group has not only cleaned up the bunds, but have strengthened it apart from creating a 13-feet-wide and 840-metre-long path for walkers on the eastern side of the tank’s bund. The group had also removed the seemai karuvelam growth inside the tank measuring nearly 95 acres.
“We could not do much on the northern and southern side of the tanks as there were encroachments to be removed,” said M.R. Saravanan, one of the coordinators of the group.
While the group planted more than 50 saplings on the eastern side of the bund, the Public Works Department has assured to erect fences to prevent people from throwing garbage into the bank. Madurai Corporation plans to place adequate number of dustbins. “We managed to complete all the tasks that we targeted. If it was not for the rains in between, we could have done more,” said A. Rahman, another coordinator of the group.
Mr. Rahman said that since seemai karuvelam trees will grow again in the tank, the group was planning to do a cleanup every three months. “Once, we keep clearing the growth for two to three years, we can permanently get rid of them,” he said.
The volunteers said they received wide support from the locals. “In the initial days, many of them participated in the cleanup. They also helped us by giving food and other facilities,” said M. Kali, one of the founding members of the group. Students from schools and colleges also participated in the drive on some days.
The volunteers expressed hope that while they had done their part, the PWD would finish the mission by removing all the encroachments. “A mud road has been laid right in the middle of the tank. We partially removed it thereby rendering it unusable. We hope it will be completely removed soon,” Mr. Saravanan said.
The group wrapped up their work on Sunday by distributing pamphlets to the locals urging them to maintain the tank clean. “The locals have to take ownership if the tank has to remain clean,” Mr. Saravanan added.
