THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City Corporation conducted a ‘Puzhayarivu’ or riverwalk, an awareness walk to conserve Killiyar River on Saturday. Puzhayarivu consisted of a river-side walk that started from the Government High school, Jagathy and concluded at Jagathy ground. The walk led by Mayor V K Prasanth included Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar, General Convenor Vanchiyoor P Babu, Standing Committee Chairpersons S Pushpalata, Palayam Rajan, ward councillors Bindu Sreekumar, B Vijayalekshmi, Vidhyamohan, Sheeja Madhu, S Madhusoodan Nair, residents’ association members, green army volunteers, other corporation officers and staff and Actor Nandhu.
“It’s a unique endeavour, to clean the river. Officers and citizens are taking part in an enthusiastic manner. Rivers are our life. The rivers are becoming polluted and turning into dump yards. We need to save them for our future by cleaning the river,” said Prasanth.
Following the walk, the Killiyar City Mission campaigners organised a cultural rally, in which an Ottamthullal about the Killiyar written by Madhavan Pillai was performed. The cultural rally was organised at the Jagathy ground. The Othamthullal writer and participants Manu Attingal and Sunil Nadumpuram were felicitated during the event. The cultural rally will also be conducted in various wards. The rally was also organised at Poojapura, Maruthamkuzhi, Edapazhanji, Kanjirampara, and Kowdiar ward.
On Sunday the rally will begin from the banks of the river and will continue to Peroorkada, Manikanteswaram bridge, Sasthamangalam, Kannettumukku and will conclude at Popular Automobile. The cultural rally will conclude on October 15.
During the event, the officers were instructed to make a note of the encroachments, its width and details at various points. Volunteers will be trained to map it on to a GIS-based map. A mobile app and website have been created for this purpose. The volunteers’ training for data collection will be held on October 17.