Cleaning season @ Ooty
Volunteers removing garbage from the Film Shooting hill near Udhagamandalam on Tuesday. A mass cleaning campaign by officials of the Forest Department, the Nilgiris South Division and volunteers marked the World Environment Day here on Tuesday.Led by the District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris South, Rakesh Kumar Jagenia, the participants armed with spikes, baskets and gunny bags fanned out to different places, including the highly abused film-shooting hill, a scenic spot on Ooty-Gudalur Road. Caps and T-shirts were provided to them by the food and beverage multinational PepsiCo.Claiming that the response to the campaign had been good, Mr. Jagenia told that some tourists had also extended support to the effort.
Pointing out that the main reason for such beautiful and eco-sensitive spots getting littered was due to the callous outlook of many of the tourists, he said that through a sustained campaign it was possible to bring about an attitudinal change. If they were sensitised to the catastrophic consequences of taking nature for granted, they would cooperate in protecting places like the film shooting hill. Love for nature should be inculcated among the tourists.
Senior member, Nilgiri Wildlife and Environment Association (NWLEA), A.C. Soundararajan lamented that the environment of the Nilgiris, which was among the best in the world till a few decades ago, had started deteriorating steadily since the early 1980s.Listing out the factors, he said that among them was the advent of the junk food culture. This led to the people discarding plastic bottles and packets without showing any concern for the environment. Tourism played a vital part in ensuring the economic well-being of this hill station. The visitors should enjoy themselves here without doing any harm to the environment.
Pointing out that the revenue earned from some of the tourist spots like the Ooty Lake ran into crores of rupees, he hoped that the government would set aside some funds for maintaining them properly.Garbage, including plastic bags and cups, were removed from the stretch leading from Hungerford Junction to Hanumapuram on the Ooty-Gudalur Road.
