BENGALURU: On the outskirts of the city flows the Vrishabhavathi river. A tributary of the Arkavathy river, it was known in the past for its clean and pristine waters. Over the years, urbanization and the release of pollutants, from various sources, into the river has turned its water black and unfit for any purpose.
In order to restore this river, more than 12,000 volunteers participated in a six-kilometre run from Kengeri Satellite Town to Bangalore University campus, under the theme #SaveVrushabhavathi on Sunday. Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya, Kannada Actors Ganesh, Thippeswamy, Tejaswini Ananthakumar and the chairman of Adamya Foundation also joined the run with people from different localities. They were joined by 2,500 students from various colleges.
Prakash Kanike, a resident of RR Nagar said, “Firstly we did not expect a huge crowd. We were really about the turnout. While we were running, we spoke to some people who said that they did not even know that such a river existed in the city and told us that they would support our cause. The idea is to bring it to the attention of the government to save the river. This is just the start. We have more plans.”
Nivedita Sunkad, a member of citizen’s group RR Nagar I care said, “It was great to run with so many people joining in. Now all the citizens should come forward to save the river. They should even identify lakes in their vicinity and work with authorities to protect lakes.” The event was organised by various organisations like RR Nagar I care, Yuva Bridge, Namami Vrishabhavathi foundation, Youth for Parivarthana among others.