Post protests, Marina gets spruced up for R-Day

Chennai: The morning after the week-long protest turned violent, the central point opposite the Vivekananda House where the student movement arose was deserted, left with only policemen, conservancy staff and a handful of protesters by the shore. Thousands of conservancy workers began converging on the Marina beach on Tuesday morning, cleaning the sands for the first time in seven days since the protest for jallikattu began.More than 300 tonnes of garbage, predominantly plastic, was collected. “Every night, we collected whatever garbage we could from 3am primarily from the roads and service lanes, but vehicles could not enter the beach area when the massive crowd was there round the clock the past week,” said Teynampet zonal officer Ramamurthy.
Everyday protesters had been clearing the littered trash and putting them into sacks — an act that won them much appreciation. “The volunteers had assembled all these sacks in different points which made our job faster as the garbage was not scattered,” said Ramamurthy. There were hundreds of sacks, said a conservancy cleaner, who had come from Pallikaranai and was sweeping the service lanes.
At any given time, over 5,000 conservancy workers are here, said a conservancy supervisor from the corporation. Ramky Enviro is the private operator in charge of conservancy on the Marina, but to clear the massive quantities of waste corporation brought in their entire workforce too.
“We received a message from top officials at Ripon buildings on Tuesday that staff from each of the 200 wards must be there to clean the Marina,” the supervisor said. “Conservancy workers from all divisions and wards completed their work by 10am and we started transporting them to the Marina,” said the supervisor.
More than 30 mobile toilets which were brought to the beach for Kaanum Pongal continued to be there during the protest. They were taken away on Tuesday to be cleaned and brought back for Republic Day.
All roads leading to the Marina have been cordoned off by police; only garbage trucks were allowed. Meanwhile, Kamarajar Salai was being transformed with stages erected, shamianas, speakers and other arrangements for Republic Day in full swing. Charred vehicles, glass pieces, overflowing garbage bins were left over on the approaching roads which had witnessed a pitched battle just a day before between police and protesters.