Volunteers gear up for cleaning in and around the Meghadri Gedda Dam during a cleanup drive in Visakhapatnam on Saturday— Photo by Arrangement

VISAKHAPATNAM: Volunteers, youth groups and environmental activists joined a clean-up drive at the Meghadrigedda reservoir in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, one of the city’s key drinking water sources.

Organisers pledged to make the drive monthly, underscoring the need for sustained action against pollution.

Jointly organised by Simhadri TMT, Hima Humanitarian Association, and the area’s youth, the programme also brought together residents, volunteers, and NSS students from Aditya Degree College in Daba Gardens. Equipped with gloves, bags, and cleaning tools, all the volunteers collected plastic waste, discarded materials and other debris from the reservoir and its surroundings.

The drive is aimed at raising awareness within the public about the threat plastics, chemicals, and other pollutants pose to water bodies. Participants underlined that preventing indiscriminate dumping is vital to safeguarding drinking water, protecting aquatic life, and maintaining ecological balance. They highlighted the public health risks of contaminated water.

State Information Commissioner P.S. Naidu, who attended the programme as chief guest, commended the volunteers and called for greater public participation in conserving water resources. He pointed out that people have traditionally regarded water bodies as sacred. Protecting them is thus a shared social responsibility.

Representatives of Hima Humanitarian Association and Simhadri TMT said the monthly clean-up drives would ensure that the day’s campaign is not a one-day event. They pledged to undertake additional environmental protection and water conservation programmes.

Participants included retired special metropolitan magistrate Paila Sunny Babu, Bharani Kana Rama Rao, T.V.D. Das, Farooq, and R.V.K. Naidu.


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