Marking the World Rivers Day, which is celebrated on fourth Sunday of September every year, swimmers from the Amaravati Walkers and Runners Association (AWARA) demonstrated swimming feats in the Krishna River on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion, the association’s child and women swim coaching coordinator, Sakuntala Devi said there was a decline in the quality of water in the river, which was the only source of drinking water and irrigation for four cities and districts, despite the fact that hundreds of eco-volunteers were engaged in the cleaning crusades.
“It is unfortunate that no government agency has made any attempt to check release of untreated sewage, sullage, meat, fish offals released by markets and garbage brazenly dumped by the local municipalities,” she said.
Earlier on Saturday, the association members and their children were joined by students of Aravinda School in a “Weed Out—Seed In” programme. They assembled at the COVID Park, developed by the association members on the south bank of the river, opposite the Kondaveetivaagu flood water project and cleaned up the place.
A team from Bengaluru-based Wipro Earthian Program, observed and shot a documentary of the young eco- warriors engaged in picking up the trash.
AWARA founder Ajay Katragadda informed the team that the children were trained to become fit and contribute their mite towards removing ecological imbalances. He said it was unfortunate that there was no word of encouragement from any government or private organisation. He also informed that the daily walks and runs would be replaced with swimming coaching during the Dasara holidays.
Interested parents can dial 9494126912 to enrol their children’s names, he said.
