COIMBATORE: R Manikandan never imagined the well in Coimbatore’s Indira Nagar would dry up one day. The boisterous days two decades ago, in the summers of late 1990s, when he, along with his friends, used to spend time swimming in the well, suddenly turned inert. Stumbled by the bizarre truth — the drained Kurichi lake has resulted in parched water bodies in the area — Manikandan, along with his friends, came up with the idea to rejuvenate the lake.
That was a humble beginning. They petitioned Coimbatore District Collector A Muruganantham to investigate the issue. Following this, officials desilted a 3.5-km lake channel, bringing life back to Kurichi lake. But the 39-year-old city-based environmental activist never thought this incident would make him a forerunner in the onerous work of reviving and protecting the region’s waterbodies.
Manikandan’s first major achievement was at the age of 15. He had by then dropped out of school and was working in a lathe workshop with his uncle at Ganapathy. Joining hands with the councillor, he arranged a drinking water pipeline supply for Annai Indira Nagar residents by collecting funds from locals, as the Panchayat authorities could not finish the project due to fund crunch.
Later, many youngsters and foreign returnees joined his venture and formed a group called Kovai Kulangal Pathukappu Amaippu. They together removed Seemai Karuvelam and Ipomea carnea, also known as Neyveli Kattamanakku, which occupied nearly 60% of Perur Periyakulam, spreading over 265 acres.
Recently, due to Manikandan’s undaunted efforts, the officials of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, with the help of Public Works Department (PWD), relocated people living in a three-kilometre channel of Vellalore lake, which was an impediment for reviving the lake, and the lake breathed again after a gap of two decades. Soon after the area was cleared, he and his friends planted 25,000 native tree species and 10,000 varieties of flowering plants using the Miyawaki method. This arrangement is now attracting around 150 birds and 98 varieties of butterflies to the area.
So far, the team has revived around four ponds with CSR funds, and their efforts have helped increase the area’s groundwater level.During the Adi Perukku and Amavasai, Manikandan and his team convinced people who were leaving offerings (especially food items) for their forefathers in the Noyyal River and handed over those food items to the people in need.
“Now, my aim is to save the Noyyal River from pollution and increase the green cover of the place. For this, we are creating awareness among the public as their participation is an important tool for achieving success,” says Manikandan. His ardent efforts have brought him countless laurels, including the Water Warrior Award from Jal Sakthi Ministry in 2020. At present, Manikandan and his team are in an effort to document as many as 1,200 ponds in Coimbatore and put them in the public domain with survey numbers. They hope this will help the civic bodies to deal with encroachment and replenish the waterbodies with CSR funds.
Awarded by Central govt
Manikandan won the Water Warrior Award from the Jal Sakthi Ministry in 2020 for his efforts in reviving waterbodies through the group ‘Kovai Kulangal Padhukappu Amaippu’