CHENNAI: The Students’ Youth Social Movement and the All Tamil Nadu Students Association commenced a walk, ‘A Journey for Water’ from Marina Beach on Monday. A team of around 20 youngsters from the organisations will walk from Chennai to Coimbatore via Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode and Tirupur.
“According to a survey conducted in 2015, it was concluded that the two main problems that Tamil Nadu faces are TASMAC issues and water crisis. We initially started working on shutting down TASMACS and now our concern is water,” says Sivachandran, president, All Tamil Nadu Students Association. The team will be joined by interested participants from various other districts.
Sivachandran points out that the outrage and support to link various rivers happens only once in a while and his team’s motive was to keep the cause alive in people’s minds. “There was agitation when the verdict on Cauvery was given. But, after a few days everything died down and nobody wants to address it. We want to bring in a change.”
The team will make a stop every 35 km in a village and address the people there. “We have also noticed that there are farmlands in certain districts that are of no use now. We will talk to the villagers about issues that affect them,” he says.
So far, they have got good response from Thiruvannamalai and Vellore and they are expecting a large number of people to join them. “We planned our route along the water banks. In these two districts, many youngsters are eager to join us and make a change,” he adds.
The walk will culminate at the banks of river Noyyal in Alandurai, Coimbatore on December 15. Incidentally, Noyyal river restoration work in the district, is in full swing.