Festival begins to revive Thiruneermalai lake

The Thiruneermalai Nanbargal Kuzhu took the initiative to clean Thiruneermalai lake, even as PWD officials delayed the restoration and cleaning of the lake. The permission for the volunteers was granted based on the recommendation of the Water Resources Department (WRD), Lower Palar Basin Division, to Kancheepuram Collector and PWD, after a petition was sent by a civic activist.

Speaking about the Thiruneermalai lake festival, civic activist Pugalventhan V said, “We have started the initiative few weeks ago but from this week it will be a massive clean-up drive and we are expecting the participation of more volunteers in the upcoming weeks. In the clean-up we will remove the seemai karuvelam trees, an invasive species, from the lake bund. So far, we have cleared the weeds grown in the lake. Once the lake is freed from garbage and plastic waste, we will request the government to allot funds to desilt the lake.”

“The government officials are supportive in this clean-up festival. We were guided by EFI. The trees and the waste removed from the waterbody will be taken by the Thiruneermalai Town Panchayat workers and disposed of,” said Kumaran, a volunteer.

The Collectorate has given two months’ time to complete the clean-up activities and they are expecting to complete the work within given time period.