Mahathi R Arjun , The Times of India 18 Jan 09;
CHENNAI: With a glove in one hand and a huge sack in the other, a bunch of youngsters diligently picked up trash at Elliots Beach on Saturday evening. Their purpose: to make sure the shores were clean enough for the endangered Olive Ridley turtles that come to nest along Chennai's coast.
A few young people have formed The Waste Committee' to clean up the beach. "My friends and I visit the beach often and it's always so dirty. We decided something needed to be done, and decided to do it," says Rupesh Kumar (25), one of the organisers and a member of the committee.
Emails, text messages, a social networking site and word-of-mouth spread the word. "We are planning to do this every Saturday, covering Kottivakkam, Thiruvanmiyur and Neelangarai beaches. This is the first time we are cleaning, and will continue every week. We are just cleaning upto 50 metres from the shore, where the turtles lay the eggs," says Sidharth Hande, a member of the committee.
Considered one of the smallest species of sea turtle, Olive Ridley turtles frequent the coast of Bay of Bengal, especially Orissa and Tamil Nadu. Their nesting period is from January to March, during which turtle walks are popular. Students' Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN), which has been working to conserve these turtles since 1988, is also taking part in the cleaning. SSTCN organises walks where volunteers collect turtle eggs and take them to a hatchery. After about 45 days, the young turtles are released back into the sea.
"We usually cover a seven-km stretch from Theosophical Society beach to Neelangarai. Every year, about 70-100 turtles nest on this stretch, and we collect about 70 nests. Many youngsters take part in these walks every Friday and Saturday night. And it is nice to see that they are trying to clean up the place. Especially after cyclone Nisha, there is more garbage, which can hamper the nesting process," says V Arun, an SSTCN member who has been involved in turtle walks for 12 years.
The garbage, however, is not going to end up in Pallikaranai marsh again but as an arch in Kalakshetra colony. "We will be putting up an arch at the entrance of the colony to create an awareness about the amount of garbage we produce and how we need to reduce it," says Shanthi Krishnan, 53, vice-president of Kalakshetra welfare association.
For the 30-odd youngsters who turned up to do their bit for the society, it is not all work and no play. After the cleaning, the group was entertained by a band Substance', who performed to create awareness about the environment.
