Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

They have a dream

The Herculean task of cleaning the Noyyal has been given an impetus by Siruthuli, writes K. JESHI

PHOTOS: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

A NEW JOURNEY For a much-abused lifeline.

"Being a Coimbatorean is a matter of pride," says actor Suriya. At the action-packed evening of Noyyallukku Nooru celebrations, this was the message the actor sent out to the audience who turned out at PSGIM grounds to lend their support to save Noyyal, the lifeline of Coimbatore. "Coimbatore is going to be talked about in a big way. By taking up this endeavour to save the river, the people of this city have shown the way for others in the country. This noble thought of giving something back to the society will go down in history," he believes.

A fundraiser

Siruthuli, the movement that seeks to restore water bodies in the city and make Coimbatore clean and green, has launched Noyyallukku Nooru, a fundraiser to collect Rs.100 from every individual of Coimbatore in 100 days to build a corpus of Rs.15 crore. The funds will be used to restore the 48 - km stretch of the river within the city and also to develop its tributaries spread across 160 km and more than fifteen lakh people will be involved in the project.

"For many living below the poverty line, Rs.100 is their earning for a day. It is a big amount. In a city with a population of 15 lakh, the voters' turnout is only between 45 and 60 per cent, but we need 100 per cent participation in this cause on a warfooting. I request every individual to contribute. If you have relatives abroad, ask them to send $100; we need more funds," he told the audience.

Before walking the audience through the history of Noyyal and its civilisation, Suriya, who zoomed on to the stage in a bike, also made a reference to the divine blessings the initiative had. "This morning's shower as we set out to distribute tickets to various institutions and corporate houses was His blessings for a good start," he said. Members of various walking clubs in the city were felicitated for their participation in the 30-km walk organised by Siruthuli on October 2, 2005 to create awareness on Noyyal. "The overwhelming success of this walk, which started with 5,000 people and ended with participation from more than 1.5 lakh people is another example that Coimbatore people are different. You cleared Krishnampathy tank in 35 days, which would have taken more than a year by a government contractor. Here, everyday, two people donate their eyes. There are many examples to show that this city is leading from the front," Suriya adds.

Students from PSG College of Technology have promised to chip in Rs. 5 lakh for Noyyallukku Nooru and presented a cheque for Rs. 50,000. Suriya also gave a cheque of Rs. 2 lakh to Vanitha Mohan, the managing trustee of Siruthuli. Green reel, the audio-visual film presented the grim picture we are likely to face in 2070 if we fail to save our water bodies.

An orchestra by Lakshman Sruthi from Chennai set the mood for the evening with hit numbers from Surya's movies and the actor enjoyed every bit of it. He sprang a surprise by shaking a leg along with Edwin's Dance School members for the rangola number from his Ghajini. And he did it again with suttum vizhi. The performers entered the spirit of things and the lead singer went to the extent of jumping into the crowd as he sang the peppy oru maalai song from Ghajini. Bowing to audience request, Suriya also delivered the racy dialogues from his film Pithamagan.

A short film on the journey of the river titled `Noyyal then and now' featuring actors Sivakumar and Sathyaraj was shown to the audience. The message from the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, congratulating the efforts of Siruthuli in reviving the Noyyal to bring the smiles back to the residents of Coimbatore was read out. Suriya also called the attention of the public to the hazardous levels of pollution in Valankulam tank.

"After the cleaning of the 800-acre site, the aerial view of our city is superb with white patches of water everywhere. Only a few people have the resilience to take a dream forward and Siruthuli is an example. We just have one Noyyal. Let's save it," he added.

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