Volunteers transform public spaces overnight

They visited  areas like Nungambakkam, Triplicane, Besant Nagar, Kodambakkam, Royapettah and Chepauk to give the public spaces in these localities a completely new look. 

“We had to coordinate between 125 volunteers and spread out in such a way that there were at least 10 people in each spot. We had taken the necessary permission from the Corporation and started our work at 10 pm. Armed with brooms, spades, plastic bags, gloves, masks and paint, our aim was to clean the garbage around the area and paint the walls to give the premises a brand new look,” says Krishnakumar Suresh, founder of Thuvakkam. 

The points they covered include Mylapore Corporation Library, Mandaveli Bus Stand, Besant Nagar Bus Stand, Triplicane Post Office, Royapettah Bus Stand and Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital For Women in Chepauk. They also went to  Chennai Corporation Diagnostic Centre in Valluvarkottam, Kodambakkam Vidyodaya Bus Stop, Nungambakkam EB Office and Teynampet Library. “We worked at a brisk pace and continued until 3 am. What was encouraging was the fact that some people came forward to sponsor our initiative by supplying paint,” says Suresh Kathalangathur. “These are the facilities that lakhs of  Chennaiites use on a daily basis and no one wants to start their day looking at the garbage. So as part of the Daan Utsav celebrations, we decided to gift the people of our city a clean public space,” says Suresh, a former student of SRM College, who started the organisation in 2014 with his college friends. 

Most of the founding members of the organisation grew up in and around Mylapore and wanted to do something about the cleanliness of the neighbourhood. “Most of our memories of Mylapore were so different to what it is today. It is so crowded and every nook and corner seems to be dirty. This inspired us to start something at the grassroots level by cleaning the public places during the weekends.” 

They have been regularly organising late-night clean-ups. “Most of the volunteers work during the day and are free only after 7 pm. The timings are convenient for us and this way, we do not disrupt the public and we can work in peace.”