Chennai; The city and diminishing water bodies go hand-in-hand. With more than a 100 lakes and furthermore ponds having been lost without a trace to build the concrete jungle over them.
However, a movement has started and it is the residents who have taken the lead this time around, forming associations and bringing in manpower to set things straight.
That is precisely how Ambattur Neernilaigal Paramarippu Kazhagam came into being. The forum was formed just two months back but has taken up big measures in a short span of time.
Their main motto, as the name suggests, is to clean and restore waterbodies in the area and their eyes were set on Vairavan pond and Karuppan pond in the locality.
Nedumaran, a laywer by profession, has been involved with the forum right from the get-go and stated that their main objective is to bring back water bodies that should have been maintained properly by the government.
“For 50 years these ponds were unused. We could have saved so much water. With every household now using borewells, it is time we took drastic measures to recharge ground water as well. We need to find many such waterbodies that are on the brink of encroachment and bring them back to life,” he said.
The forum members feel that once the waterbodies are renovated, they must be turned into an attraction spot by which people will notice any means of malpractices that might take place as miscreants are never far away.
The forum is now scouting for more ponds to clean having established that pond cleaning works can be done with little amount.
It cost us just a little over Rs 28,000 to get the work done. It is not a huge amount and the government should have done it. It is a pity that they don’t, said the forum members.
For more details, contact Nedumaran at 9841236017.