‘Madras Maanikkangal’ is how the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI) honoured the many environment warriors, on the occasion of Madras Day, on Aug.22.
“Chennai has stories to tell and those stories can inspire many more,” said Arun Krishnamoorthy, Founder of EFI. Truly, as he introduced each and every person, their stories of dedication to various environmental issues awed everyone.
More than 20 people were conferred with the title of Madras Maanikkangal’ . Here are some of the stories
- Chitlapakkam Rising – It didn’t take long for the residents of Chitlapakkam to realise the importance of the Chitlapakkam lake and how it influenced their daily lives – come rain or shine. The growth of the locality and misuse of the lake soon took a toll on the locality. Thus a group of volunteers strove to save the lake from pollutants and restore it to its original size, implement better water management systems to tackle flood drought.
- Ainthinai – This unique group of volunteers are dedicated to not only planting trees, but also taking care of it. Their scientific and systematic ways of planting and taking care of trees has borne much fruit.
- Citizens Matters – News website Citizens Matters provides a dedicated platform for reporting civic and environmental issues. Meenakshi Ramesh, Kotturpuram, received the award and said that, while newspapers inform readers about issues and events, the onus is finally on the hands of the readers / public to follow good policies. She cited the example of the elections and said, “We publish details about contestants, still, there was a dismal turnout during the Councillor election! People do not realise that the Councillor election is more important than the Lok Sabha election because they are the people who we are going to work for us, on a daily basis.”
- Ramakrishna Mission Student’s Home, Mylapore – This institute was appreciated for its green campus and solid waste management practices.
- ROKA – The Residents of Kasturba Nagar Association have been dedicatedly working towards ‘near zero waste’ practices. In this quest they had conducted several waste collection drives in the neighbourhood with many tons of waste sent for recycling and away from the landfills. They have also installed wet waste composters at the Chennai High School, Kamaraj Avenue, Adyar, to turn the wet waste into black gold. “A simple act of source segregation at home can have a ripple effect and help in conserving the environment. It is not something new to us. It is an old practice, long forgotten; we only need to revive it and make it a way of life, again,” said Janani Venkitesh, Secretary of ROKA.
- Mr.Nithyanandam (Oonamanchery Ward Councillor) – The once barren village of Oonamanchery now boasts of greenery, providing work opportunities for the villages at the same time. The Ward Councillor explained about the transformation of the village into a lush green area and how the villagers are now earning through various employment opportunities provided by the greening effort. “Do come and visit our village. And in case you want to celebrate the birthday of your near and dear ones, let us know. We shall plant a tree in their name and also nurture it. What’s better than planting a tree on such occasions?” says Nithyanandam.
- NSS Unit of SSN College and MAHER, and P.Kaythry – Any social / civic effort will not be possible without the help of volunteers of the NSS units of both – SSN College and Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research (MAHER). The college representatives were honoured for their commitment towards environmental causes and support to EFI in their various initiatives.
- JS Global School – The school’s commitment to environmental causes has encouraged their students to pitch in with the many initiatives of EFI. The students also shared their experience of working with EFI and how it has enhanced their perspective on environmental issues.
- Geethanjali Madhusudanan (Anna University) – Geethanjali, a resident of Indira Nagar, has inspired many students to volunteer for the initiatives of EFI – be it beach cleaning or lake restoration. Geethanjali, while appreciating the efforts of EFI stated that many students have been inspired by EFI and some of them are also pursuing degrees / electives on sustainability and the like.
- Rani Ellappan (Kelambakkam Panchayat President) – EFI honoured the Panchayat president for her commitment to restoring the multiple lakes in this village.
Arun Krisnamoorthy as well as the Panchayat Presidents spoke of the many hurdles in restoring the lakes, “We would pump water out of the lake for the restoration and lo and behold, it would rain the very next day out of the blue! Absolutely unexpectedly! It was thus a huge challenge. However we were determined to restore it and continued with perseverance,” and added that the village was committed to preserving their water bodies. “Next we are looking for help to tackle our never-ending waste management issues,” he said.
- Shobana Thangam Sundar (Kovalam Panchayat President) – Kovalam beach has been tagged with a blue flag and declared as the cleanest beach, but a lot goes on behind the scenes to achieve this feat. The Panchayat President thanked the EFI for helping arrange for frequent beach cleanups at Kovalam beach. “We would have done the clean up just the previous day, and the next day, a huge pile of garbage would be washed ashore. It’s unending!” said the President and added that waste management was a huge problem for them. “The popularity of Kovalam is only increasing by the day. And with it comes the problem of waste management and specifically plastic. We welcome ideas on how to handle the plastic and other waste problems at tourist areas,” she said and requested EFI’s help in restoring one of the lakes in their area.
- EFI also honoured many other people associated with them for their dedication and expertise. They were: A.Karthik (Tata Hitachi service engineer supporting environment projects), A.Manigandan (Excavator operator working in field of restoring water bodies), Mr.Murugan and Mrs.Vanitha (field incharge), V.Chandrakumar (logistics partner), Col.Issac (volunteer), Mr.Deenathayalan (TDS professional), Gaudham Balakrishnan (volunteer), Mr.Jagadish (drone pilot) and Geethanjali (youth brigade in conservation). All of them shared many stories of the field work depicting the difficulties faced by them in restoration works.
The event was also a zero waste event, with guests being served with whole fruits and drinks in glass tumblers. Thanking everyone, Arun Krishnamoorthy said, “Bhopal is said to be a city of lakes. But in reality, Chennai has the most water bodies. It is the only city with 3 rivers flowing through it – Kosasthalaiyan, Coovam and Adyar and the innumerable lakes in and around it. Each locality has a lake nearby. And not to forget the Bay of Bengal adjoining. Ideally, Chennai should be called the City of Waterbodies and we are all very proud of it. Chennai is a city but Madras is an emotion! Thus wishing all a very Happy Madras Day!”
