On a pleasant Sunday morning, dozens of college students descended upon Reserve Forest areas in the city’s southern suburbs.
They cleaned the immediate periphery of the forest, gathering a massive quantity of garbage dumped by residents, motorists and visitors.
Forest Department staff, 150 college students and volunteers from ‘Save Earth for Next Generation (SENG)’, and members of residents welfare associations, took part in the clean-up campaign across four Reserved Forests (RF) in Kancheepuram district.
The students were split into four groups to clear the garbage on the fringes of forests in Nanmangalam, Tambaram, Vandalur and Vallur. Plastic, especially thin carry bags, comprised most of the waste.
“It was decided by officials to rope in the services of an NGO to educate students on prevention of littering in forest areas,” said Tambaram Range Forest Officer N. Krishnakumar.
Recyling is important
“But the campaign is not only about cleaning up the forest, it is also about recycling,” R. Nishanth, a programme co-ordinator from SENG said. “We aim to highlight the importance of recycling and show students and other volunteers that garbage can be a source of income,” he added.
Inaugurating the clean-up drive at Sembakkam, municipal chairman G.M. Santhakumar said construction of a compound wall around the Nanmangalam forest will prevent people entering restricted areas.
Forest department staff B. Sundararajan, R. Ravi and S. Sivakumar supervised the clean-up drives.
