Nanjangud: The volunteers of Yuva Brigade, in their three-day-long cleaning drive have removed tonnes of waste materials from Kapila River in Nanjangud.

The volunteers, who assembled on the banks of the river at about 6.30 am on Sunday, began their cleaning drive amidst drizzle and cold weather.

They first removed the algae, floating plants and drifted wood which had accumulated near Hadinaaru Kaalu Mantapa and later moved towards the bathing ghats, where they removed more than five tractor loads of discarded clothes, sarees, photos of Gods and Goddesses, glass pieces etc.

About 30 volunteers took part in the cleaning which went on till 6 pm. The cleaning drive was conducted on Monday too and yesterday, an earth-excavating machine was brought to the river banks which loaded the waste materials to trucks and tractors to be disposed off scientifically.

Yuva Brigade’s South Zone Convenor Chandrashekar said that the volunteers of Yuva Brigade have been cleaning Kapila River since eight years.

“Earlier, public announcements were being made asking devotees not to discard clothes in the river and fines were also being collected from those found violating the warnings. This had resulted in less accumulation of wastes in the river. Now, the staff have been deployed elsewhere and even imposing fines have also been stopped resulting too much of waste accumulation in the river. Even the Temple Administration had requested devotees not to throw waste and discard clothes in the River,”  he added.

Sunil, Ramanujam, Arjun, Rangaswamy, Prajwal, Gopal, Anil, Mahendra, Chandan, Abhi, Prasanna, Nithin, Jayashree and others took part in the drive.