The Vaigai saw a flurry of activity as Corporation Commissioner S. Aneesh Sekhar along with sanitation workers and students from various city colleges participated in a plastic-free river clean up project, here on Saturday.
The river was split into seven parts - 14 zones on north and south side. It had 200 volunteers who segregated biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste in each of the sections.
In order to inculcate the idea of responsibility towards the environment, he and his team began picking up plastic waste and disposing them in bins. With about 1,600 participants in total, Mr. Sekhar said he was positive about changes taking place.
"This is an awareness initiative. Cleaning the Vaigai cannot be possible by the Corporation alone. Residents must ensure that they stop dumping waste onto the river bed. To ensure this, we are sending our workers to segregate and collect plastic waste from wet waste every Wednesday from houses in nearby localities,” he said.
He stated that selected citizens living in areas along the river would be instated as Swach Ambassador - volunteers ensuring cleanliness of their allocated space.
As a corrective measure to regulate dumping of waste, a fine of ₹100 would be levied on individuals, ₹1000 on small businesses and ₹5000 on large businesses.
M. Pandiswari, a resident who lives by the riverbed in Alwar Nagar said that people rarely bothered about dumping waste carefully.
“The area has a stench and has mosquitoes. I wonder how the Corporation will keep tab on individuals who are throwing garbage and creating nuisance,” she also said.
Assistant City Health Officer K. Parthipan stated that the purpose of the exercise was to ‘inform, educate and communicate’ with the citizens.
About 700 students from National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Service Scene (NSS) programmes from city colleges who participated in the drive said they were enthused about a cleaner river. Revati, a student of Meenakshi Government College, said that she will continue to volunteer at every clean up hereafter.
