Youths clean Markandeya river at Kangrali

Belagavi: Markandeya river, the lifeline for people and agriculture in Belagavi taluk, had been highly polluted due to garbage dumping. But, a group of youths from Kadoli village, Belagavi taluk did some damage control by cleaning the stretch at Kangrali village recently.

A group of 30 youths from Kadoli, Jafarwadi and Agasage villages, under the banner of Swami Vivekananda Yuvak Sangh, held a river-cleaning drive. They cleared the water of a lot of waste that included expired medicine bottles, plastic bags, discarded mattresses, alcohol bottles as well as flowers, leaves, coconuts, banana plants and fruits. They met at Kangrali at 8am and, apart from removing the garbage, they also created awareness among people about not throwing any kind waste into the river and the disadvantages of polluting the river.

Ramesh Katamble, president, Yuvak Sangh, said, "We had cleaned the river last year too. The situation is not changing; it'll change only when people respect the sacred river by keeping it clean. People had thrown a large amount of puja material in the river during Deepavali. We cleared nearly 1,000 decayed coconuts from the river," he said.

Lata Patil, president, Kangrali gram panchayat, said, "We create awareness among people about not dumping garbage in the river. But we can't keep a watch through the day to stop such dumping."

Somnath Patil, Raju Uccukar, Ashok Muddennavar, Sunil Patil, Swapnil Bamane, Prasad Bokade, Balakrishna Patil and many youths participated in the drive.