DIY: Abhiramapuram residents rid street of litter

CHENNAI: For the last several years, residents of Abhiramapuram 4th Street have literally been getting an eyeful – of garbage and people urinating in public on the adjacent lane. On Sunday last, they along with volunteers of Karam Korpom Foundation, an NGO, painted the walls on either side of Abhiramapuram 3rdCross Street with positive messages.
“The lane connects Abhiramapuram 3rd and 4th streets. Over the years, we observed it was being grossly misused, with people dumping garbage,” says R Kannan of Lakshmi Apartments. “There is a transformer abutting our compound wall, which has become a public urination spot. It is embarrassing as our building overlooks the lane and half the time there are people peeing.”
Besides, people from other areas were parking vehicles there. “People began drinking behind the cars, and in the morning liquor bottles would be strewn around,” says Kannan, a resident of the area for 32 years. To spearhead change, Central Abhiramapuram Residents Welfare Association (CARWA) was formed last year.
“We brainstormed and with the help of Viswanathan of the Mylapore Residents’ Welfare Association, approached authorities concerned,” says Kannan. “We got the street lights fixed, the garbage cleared and with the help of the traffic police illegal parking also stopped.”
CARWA joined hands with Shiva and Uma Maheshwari of Karam Korpom. “Our flagship activity is stop the abuse of public spaces. We have noticed that wherever there is an electric post or transformer, people tend to throw garbage around it and urinate there,” says Uma, adding that her organisation has done 31 projects so far in the city.
On Sunday, volunteers – school and college students – as well as residents got together to paint walls along the lane. “We usually do the base coat and sketch the outline the day before,” says Uma. “The next day, the whole wall is painted.” Messages such as ‘Don’t dump garbage’, ‘Don’t urinate here’, ‘Grow more trees’, and ‘Save Water’ along with colourful images of trees and flowers now adorn the walls.
Homemaker Priya R, who painted the walls with her sister and family, says people have not been dumping garbage for the last few days. “But we will have to see how effective it will be in the long run.”