Hundreds of people took part in a four-hour mass clean-up drive in the major rivers in the Kalpetta Assembly constituency on Monday.
The programme, titled Four hours of public to quench the thirst of the region, was organised by the Haritha Keralam Mission in association with KILA and local administrative bodies.
The programme began around 8 a.m. and the people cleaned major rivers in the constituency, including the tributaries of the Kabani such as the Venniyodupuzha, Muttilpuzha, Valillapuzha, and Cherupuzha rivers and the tributaries of the Chaliyar, including the Kalladipuzha and Aranamalapuzha.
A 24-km stretch of the Venniyode river from Lakkidi, 20-km stretch of the Cherupuzha from Elembilery to Vilambukandom, 16-km stretch of the Muttilpuzha from Nedumbala to Varadoor, 6-km stretch of the Kalladipuzha, and 5-km stretch of the Aranamala puzha were cleaned during the drive.
Each grama panchayat member took the lead in cleaning a 250-m stretch of the rivers under their jurisdiction and a group of 25 people cleaned each stretch.
People from various walks of life, including people’s representatives, NSS volunteers of various educational institutions, officials of various departments, representatives of political parties, workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Kudumbasree workers, and plantation workers took part in the drive.
C.K. Saseendran, MLA, inaugurated the drive on the old bus stand premises here.
The boundaries of river banks will be fixed with the assistance of the Revenue Department before May 18. Bamboo saplings will be planted on the river banks during the monsoon season as part of the second phase of the drive.
