Mangaluru : Yuva Brigade and Sister Niveditha Foundation volunteers removed Several tonnes of filthy garbage from River Kumaradhara and Darpana Theertha at Kukke Subrahmanya.

Yuva Brigade and Sister Niveditha Foundation volunteers cleaned the water body where hundreds of devotees take bath before visiting the famed Kukke Subrahmanya temple everyday.

In a social media post, Naresh Shenoy of Yuva Brigade said, “The two-day cleanliness drive has saddened us. Darpana Theertha (also called Kannadi Hole), situated behind the just temple, has been literally converted into a sewage drain. It is a tragedy that along with waste and garbage, human waste was also dumped into it.”

The condition of Snanaghatta, the bathing Ghat at Subrahmanya, is no different. Garbage was collected in more than 20 tractors and it was transported for scientific disposal. A 2.5-km stretch of the road in the vicinity has been freed from plastic waste. At least 10,000 plastic and glass bottles were collected, of which more than 3,000 were liquor bottles, he said.

Shenoy said a huge quantity of cloth waste was also collected. When the volunteers tried to create awareness among the merchants on maintaining the surroundings clean, the merchants did not cooperate, he said.

He said the water purification unit, built at an estimated cost of Rs 12 crore, is not functioning. The Snanaghatta on the banks of River Kumaradhara has been literally converted into a drainage, he said.

The volunteers requested devotees to stay away from polluting the river and join hands in maintaining the sanctity of the river.

Yuva Brigade has already conducted several cleanliness drives in seven rivers, including Cauvery, Bheema and Nethravathi at Dharmasthala along with cleanling more than 150 Kalyanis, the holy ponds.