Vellore is witnessing a new movement of public participation in environment-centric work. Involving a diverse crowd, volunteer groups have been devoting weekends to dredging ponds, removing “seemai karuvelam” trees from tank beds and removing plastic waste.
The pro-Jallikattu protests triggered two such initiatives. A large number of people, who participated in the protests, regrouped to take up environment-related work in the district. Change Vellore and Pillars of Nature, both voluntary organisations, have taken up cleaning of Otteri and Palavansathu lakes respectively.
Curing the Nature, also a voluntary group, has given a new lease of life to two ponds in Yelagiri Hills. It has been running for over two years and takes up cleaning work on hairpin bends of Yelagiri Hills every Sunday.
“We have dredged two ponds at Muthanoor and have completed 95 per cent of the work on the third pond. Every Sunday, volunteers chip in for the work. We remove plastic waste and liquor bottles dumped on the roadside on the hairpin bends,” P.V. Bhagavath of the NGO said.
He said the participation of the citizens in such initiatives was the need of the hour. “People should come forward and do their bit for conserving nature. They can keep their residential area clean and plant trees. If someone is going for a walk, they can pick up plastic waste on the way and put it in a garbage bin,” he added.
About 75 volunteers landed at the Palavansathu Lake during this weekend to remove the invasive “seemai karuvelam” trees. “We met at the pro-Jallikattu protests and started to meet as a group regularly. We formed Pillars of Nature with the aim to conserve soil fertility, plant trees, and help farmers,” A. Kannan, a team member, said.
They have started a Facebook account to garner more support for their effort. “The lake has not received water for the last 10 years. Only drainage is stagnant here now,” he added.
On Saturday, the volunteers removed nearly 100 small “karuvelam” trees while they managed to remove 20 big trees using power saw on Sunday, he said.
R. Prasanth, an engineering student, who joined the initiative, said it was important to remove “seemai karuvelam” trees, which had a serious impact on depleting water sources.
“Vellore is facing water shortage. These trees affect groundwater and also take away the moisture in the air. These trees have to be removed. If water is available, agriculture will be taken care of,” he said.
Change Vellore, an initiative that took off last weekend, has brought in volunteers from various walks of life to clean the Otteri Lake. D. Manikandan, a team member, said they had removed “seemai karuvelam” trees from about 150 metres of area. At least 75 per cent of the bund has been cleared.
“We have 60 volunteers on Sunday, including students, office-goers, and businessmen. A 60-year-old person joined us after hearing about it. The response has been good and several people are expressing interest in joining the initiative,” he said.
