Thiruvananthapuram: Thousands of citizens joined to clean Killi River organised under the banner 'Killliyaar Oruma' on Saturday. The volunteers including politicians, bureaucrats, policemen and local residents cleaned the 22km stretch between Karinchanthimoola and Vazhayila. Killiyar, the main tributary of Karamana River, originates at Theerthankara near to Panavur in Nedumangad taluk of Thiruvananthapuram district. The rover was ailing from plastic waste and other pollutants. Finance Minister Thomas Isaac led the cleaning work at Moozhi and K. Sabarinathan, MLA, also joined the task.
The workers under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) formed the backbone of the cleaning work. Fire and rescue personnel, panchayat members joined hand in removing boulders, twigs and sacks out of the river. Officials claimed that around 10,000 volunteers participated in the drive. "We are putting effort to wake up on Vishu morning to a cleaner Killiyaar. There used to be a time when we used to meet household requirements at our houses using Killiyaar water. Today, it is too polluted and we wanted to chip in our lot to clean the river," said Sukumaran Nair of Vaalicode.
The cleaning at Vazhayila was flagged off by tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran. Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennihala also pitched in. MLAs I.B. Satheesh, C. Divakaran, planning board member K.N. Harilal, George Onakkoor, Veteran CPM leader Koliyakode Krishnan Nair Killiyar Oruma Samithi convenor and Nedumangaud block panchayat president B. Biju were present. Killi River flows through Vazhayila, Mannammoola, Maruthankuzhi, Edapazhinji, Jagathi, Killippalam, Attukal, Kalady South and merges with Karamana River at Pallathukadavu.
