VILLUPURAM: A group of volunteers held a clean-up drive at Thenpennai river here on Sunday.
M Raffi Noorbasha (35), an IT professional, part-time photographer, and organiser of the clean-up drive told TNIE, "We went to the aathu thiruvizha to photograph the event. But we noticed that people had dumped plastic covers and trash on the riverbed, which would certainly impact the already dried up river. So, we wanted to clean it."
At least 50 volunteers turned up for the camp on Sunday morning after social media posts the previous day calling for volunteers, said sources. Community pages on social media such as Villupuram City, Villupuram Smart City, and Villupuram Trending Model, professors from private colleges, and residents also participated in the drive, sources added. Noorbasha further said the event was spontaneously planned but many volunteers turned up.
K Priyan (15), a school student who attended the event, said, "I am trying to tell my friends about how important it is to clean the mess we leave at places of celebrations like exhibitions and festivals. We enjoy it but we make our Earth sad by dumping plastic."
"The river is already plagued by rampant sand mining and rapid erosion of the riverbed. Aathu thiruvizha is doing more bad than good to the river as people dump trash. We collected four sacks of plastic, food, and paper waste from the riverbed," added Priyan.