Filled with plastic and slaughter waste, the Pallikkal river in the district is hardly the serene waterbody it once used to be.
Lack of proper awareness and official apathy have turned the river into a dumping site. As the authorities have failed to gauge the gravity of the situation, a group of youngsters have launched an initiative, ‘Clean Pallikkial River Challenge’, to make the river plastic-free.
“The Kerala Youth Promotion Council started this challenge last month. Initially there wasn’t much response apart from the usual social media reactions. But then a team of youngsters accepted the challenge and collected plastic waste from the area between the Thevarkavu temple and the Kannetti bridge. Now many people, including two schools, are coming forward to join the challenge,” says council chairman Sumanjith Misha.
A group of youngsters, in association with the members of the Pallikkal River Samrakshana Samiti, started the challenge by picking up plastic waste from the river in a canoe.
They collected six sacks of waste by evening.
“The plastic will be handed over to the municipality for recycling. We will be collecting a considerable amount of plastic if the challenge picks up pace and more people join.”
He says the council has been doing many activities to protect the river for the past four years. “We have planted mangroves along the riverbank as part of the Namukkuvendi Manninuvendi campaign. Through this challenge we want to clean the river with the help of residents and others who are ready to volunteer,” he says.
According to the volunteers, slaughter waste is the biggest challenge in reviving the river.
“They are still dumping abattoir waste on a regular basis and you can see decaying lumps floating. Earlier people used to swim in the river, but now it will cause skin diseases. We have removed some of it, but it is not easy collecting rotting animal parts.”
Official apathy
They also allege that local bodies are not intervening and this aggravate the situation. “We want the authorities to protect the river and take legal measures against those who dump waste,” Mr. Misha adds.