Recently, two conservancy workers — R. Thangaraj and his wife Ponni Thangaraj — received timely help. When Thangaraj was hospitalised due to a diabetes-related complication, succour came by in walking shoes.
The two are posted on Thiruvanmiyur beach, and they are part of 16-member conservancy team tasked with keeping the 1.8 km of beach sands sparkling clean.
Regular walkers have acknowledged this couple's commitment to their work. Getting wind of the medical emergency, they crowd-funded an amount to help the family.
“For the last four to five years, I have known this couple. They don't speak much, are hard of hearing. They go about their work with silent but striking dedication. Every day, they report for work at 6 a.m and before the morning walkers arrive, they would have cleared the sands of plastic and other litter. They are pleasant-mannered,” says T. Arunachalam, secretary, East Coast Beach Walkers’ Association.
Although the beach sands remain out of bounds for walkers due to the continuing restrictions, they require cleaning.
“Most of us are not walking along the beach but one of our fellow walkers came to know from Ponni that her husband is hospitalised and we decided to mobilise funds in whatever way we could,” says Arunachalam. He was helped by C. Mariyappan and ASR. Vivekanandan.
An appeal was made to the members through WhatsApp as well as the group's Facebook page, and in two weeks, over ₹ 12,000 was raised.
An initial amount of ₹ 5000 was handed over to Ponni on September 2 and the rest of the contribution was given to them on September 12.
The Association follows the practice of honouring conservancy staff every year during Deepavali and Pongal.