Chennais students to the rescue!

CHENNAI: ‘Prevention is better than cure’ is a phrase thrown around for a variety of reasons, least of all while thinking about the immersion of Lord Ganesha idols, mammoth and small, into the waters off the Chennai coastline. On Sunday morning, perhaps the peak immersion day following Vinayaka Chaturthi, 40 students brought together by the Rotaract Club of Akash started a real-time sea cleaning operation to remove garlands scattered in the water, in collaboration with the corporation and city police. “We figured that it is better to clean the water of garlands as soon as the idols are immersed, rather than waiting for a week till the point is lost,” reasoned Rtn Yasodhai, president of the club.The idea to launch the drive, called ‘Azhagiya Kadarkarai’, came about last year, after the team observed a similar initiative in Maharashtra. Having procured permits from the city corporation and the commissioner of police, the student rotoracters accompanied a team of 20-odd fishermen who had been commissioned by the corporation to immerse the idols. “They were very co-operative and took us into the sea with proper safety measures. Also, they helped us pull out the garlands from the water whenever it was difficult for us,” she added. The team was fortified by volunteers from other city colleges as well.Beginning at 10am, the team worked well all the way through to 3pm at Pattinapakkam Beach, the spot which the corporation had allotted for idol immersion. “As no devotees were allowed inside the water, there was no problem in collecting the floating garlands after the idols completely went into the sea,” she explained. Also, it was quite evident that no sentiments were offended, because many of the devotees appreciated the attempt tokeep the beaches clean.As and when the garlands were collected, they were deposited into bio-degradable bags and handed over to the corporation garbage collection workers who took care of the rest. With a growing awareness for the fragile state that our beaches are in, it provides us a glimmer of hope that perhaps Chennai’s beaches are in safe hands.