Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Protect rivers from pollution: Kalimuthu

Special Correspondent

Siruthuli's efforts to revive water resources hailed

COIMBATORE: Speaker of Tamil Nadu Assembly K. Kalimuthu on Tuesday called for efforts to protect rivers in the State, especially against the fallout of urbanisation - pollution.

At a function here to felicitate Siruthuli - a public initiative to revive water resources in the city - he pointed out that the State had only 33 rivers, compared to 81 in Kerala. The rest were only streams. "Tamil Nadu always had to fight for water and to protect available resources. Let us not allow these rivers to be polluted. Movements such as Siruthuli should help in saving them."

Appreciating Siruthuli's efforts to revive water resources, he, however, was alarmed to know that River Noyyal that courses through Coimbatore and joins the Cauvery near Erode was polluted with sewage. "Its condition reminds me of the Cooum (in Chennai). It once had crystal clear water but has only sewage now."

He assured Siruthuli of the Government's support for its efforts and wanted the Movement to spread to other cities.

Presiding over the felicitation function organised by the Indian Society of Agricultural Resources Management of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Vice-Chancellor of the university C. Ramaswamy praised Siruthuli's commitment to a social cause. He even admitted that some of TNAU's dry farms benefited from recharge of groundwater made possible by the desilting of tanks by Siruthuli.

Responding to the felicitations, Chairman of Siruthuli S.V. Balasubramaniam appealed to the Speaker for measures to remove encroachments from tanks as they were a hindrance to revival of water resources.

Siruthuli's Managing Trustee Vanitha Mohan said the felicitations were a tribute to every citizen of Coimbatore. "Let us give a big hand to every drop that contributed to Siruthuli."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Here they come, the cool kids!
Protect rivers from pollution: Kalimuthu
Crackdown on traffic violators
New IT facility for Coimbatore
Three-day workshop on medical education technology
Training programme on bee-keeping
Around the City
In Coimbatore Today

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu