TIRUNELVELI
Braving shine and intermittent drizzle en route, a team of 20 professors of Virudhunagar Hindu Nadar Sethikumara Nadar College are on a 557-km-long bike expedition to create awareness among the public on two pressing issues - environmental cleanliness and water conservation.
As the bikers, who left their college premises around 6 a.m. on Saturday after secretary of the College T.J. Jeyakumar formally flagged off the rally, reached Chellapandian Traffic Island at Vannarpet in Palayamkottai on Saturday morning amidst mild drizzle, they were greeted with shawls by a small group of members of Lions Club Phoenix, led by 83-year-old Kathirvel Arumugam, a former professor.
Leading the bikers, principal of the college, P. Sundara Pandian, a professor of commerce, said environmental cleanliness and water conservation were the need of the hour about which the people should be really conscious and use these resources judiciously for the generations to come.
“Since we’re facing a range of issues owing to environmental pollution and water scarcity, we are on the bike expedition to create awareness among the public on these crucial issues that have direct impact on everyone of us. As we distribute the awareness pamphlets to the passers-by and wherever we halt, the public receive it with a kind of positive attitude and read it for a while,” Dr. Sundara Pandian says.
The awareness pamphlets, sponsored by Virudhunagar Vidiyal Lions Club, detail water conservation measures that ranges from tree plantation and desilting of irrigation tanks to creating rainwater harvesting structure in every house. The pamphlet also tends to discipline the road users on the need for obeying road safety rules, especially while travelling along the 4-lane national highways.
“This is the fourth expedition we’re taking for a social cause,” said A. Sarathi, a Professor of Chemistry, riding the recently relaunched ‘Jawa’ bike.
The bikers, before reaching Kanniyakumari on Saturday evening, visited Aralvaimozhi, Nagercoil and the surroundings of Nagercoil to meet the public.
After the overnight stay, the professors will traverse through the scenic East Coast Road via Koodankulam, Uvari, Thisaiyanvilai, Manappad, Tiruchendur, Vanatirupathi, Kaayalpattinam, Thoothukudi, Ettaiyapuram and Aruppukottai to reach again the sprawling premises of their 72-year-old institution that was born just four days before the nation’s Independence.
