Students clean Mambuzha river

KOZHIKODE: The students of Providence Women’s College are cleaning the Mambuzha river, one of the major lifelines of the district on which many hundreds of people depend. NSS volunteers of the College are cleaning a two-kilometre stretch of the river, from Kunnathupalam till Pantheerankavu Bypass, as part of their seven-day annual camp. Despite being one of the major rivers in the district with a total length of 18 kilometres and immensely rich in biodiversity, it is in a poor condition with weeds and indiscriminate dumping of waste.

The students who have already covered a large part of the targeted two kilometre length, are using country boats and help from the local people  in the cleaning programme. “Initially I was scared to get into the boat, because the river contains all kind of wastes including human excreta. However, when we started cleaning together, it became a memorable experience and we forgot about the awfulness of the river,” said Sidha J.H, a student volunteer.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, one of the NSS programme officers said that the cleaning programme was being conducted ahead of the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) project for the revival of the River. “The CWRDM suggested that cleaning the river would help them to effectively implement their project,” the programme officer added. During the seven-day camp, the NSS volunteers are also conducting a campaign against drug abuse and also an awareness project on the use of e-wallet among the public as part of the government’s cashless economy campaign. Earlier on Friday, Kozhikode City Police Commissioner Uma Behara inaugurated the NSS Camp.