In a mega cleaning campaign organised by Madurai Corporation and the district administration, 25,000 people, including 9,500 college students, 4,000 conservancy workers, NGO and NSS volunteers, staff and senior officials, engaged in a ‘Clean Vaigai’ operation here on Thursday.
Led by Collector S. Natarajan, Corporation Commissioner S Aneesh Shekar, Commissioner of Police Davidson Devasirvatham, PWD Executive Engineer Subramanian, the volunteers descended on the river to begin the campaign.
Armed with gloves and masks, officials led the cleaning by picking up wastes dumped in the the river.
The exercise, which started at 7.30 a.m., went on beyond noon as students and volunteers continued to remove the garbage.
Speaking to reporters, Dr. Aneesh Shekar said a total of about 30 metric tonnes of waste was lifted from the river by the staff.
A 40-km stretch beginning from Tiruvedagam to Angadi Mangalam was covered under the cleaning campaign by the district administration, while the Corporation took up the exercise from Guru Theatre Kamaraj bridge to Obulapadithurai, a distance of seven km. The Commissioner said the stretch was divided into 62 parts and each area was provided with 400 volunteers.
Students from Fatima College, Best Dental, Mangayarkarasi, Meenakshi, NMR Subbaraman, Thiagarajar College and Preceptors, Velammal institutions, Mannar Thirumalai Naicker, TN Polytechnic, Madura College, Sourashtra, Tamil Sangam, Ambika College, Yadava (Men and Women), Wakf Board, American College, MKU College were among those who participated.
The Corporation deployed four earthmovers, eight tipper lorries, two mini-robots, 20 tractors, 20 dumper blazers, four mobile toilets and a mobile medical unit. Private entrepreneurs gave 12 earthmovers, while PWD engineers pitched in five hitatchi vehicles and 20 earthmovers, a release said.
