CHENNAI: Chennaiites of today might think of the Cooum as a foul stream of sludge passing through the city. But in Mugunthan K’s mind’s eye, it is a pristine river gently flowing behind his home, along the banks of which he played and went fishing as a child.
Pained that his own children cannot enjoy the river as he did 40 years ago, the IT professional who lives at Anaicutcherry village near Pattabiram realised that it is children who can be the best bet to save the river. After all, adults in the village were uninterested in saving Cooum, which is slowly being destroyed by pollution and sand mining.
“Even if the government intervenes and builds more check-dams, people will not stop letting their sewage into the river,” he says. Incidentally, Anaicutcherry gets its name from the 14 anaicuts or check-dams that helped divert the Cooum’s water to neighbouring villages.
Fifty years on, the villagers depend on packaged water as the river only contains sewage. So, 18 months ago, along with a group of locals, he turned to the village children and started teaching them how to protect the environment. Called Vetriyaalar Pattarai (Workshops of the successful), the programme has 50 children attending lessons on the weekends. They have been trying to clear parts of Cooum by mainly removing floating garbage.
“We wanted to start with the next generation so that they can bring about a change quicker than us. We organise plantation drives, make frequent trips to nearby waterbodies and tell them how an individual must micro-manage his or her own waste so as to not pollute any waterbody,” he says.
Mugunthan has long tried to remove encroachments built along the river banks and on lake beds in the village, with little success - political and money power are hard to combat. “As an individual, it is near impossible to bring about a change,” he says. But perhaps a change could yet begin with a child.
Recently, the state government allocated Rs 2.30 crore for cleaning the river and the canals that come under it. Virugambakkam Arumbakkam drain, Otteri Nullah, maintenance of the mouth of river among other works will be taken up by the Water Resource Department. Officials said that by October second week the works will be completed.
At various points in the city, Cooum river can be seen choked with garbage and debris dumped in it. Residents and activists are sceptical about the government’s effort to clean it as it’s condition hasn’t been improved over the years.