COIMBATORE: As part of restoring water bodies, some NGOs in Coimbatore have joined hands with the city civic body and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) to plant ‘vettiver’ grass and ‘kora’ grass very close to the sprawling Singanallur lake here.

While ‘vettiver’ is planted along the bund to strengthen the lakebed and prevent soil erosion, the ‘kora’ grass was planted in the inner bund close to the water body as it has proven qualities to absorb impurities from water.

Corporation mayor P. Rajkumar and TNAU vice-chancellor K. Ramasamy, in the presence of volunteers from various NGOs, launched the planting drive.

“Cracks have already developed in the bund in several parts. Hence we have planned to plant up to 20,000 vettiver grasses along the bunds to strengthen it.

Similarly the ‘kora’ grass is a natural water purifier as its roots absorb the pollutant metal substances from the water. Both the grass varieties will be planted covering the entire lake circumference of five kilometers,” said Vinny Peter, director of Community Education, Animal Rescuers, an NGO.

The rejuvenation of Singanallur lake started on June 5 on the ‘World Environment Day’ with the cleaning of plastics and discarded liquor bottles.
“Almost four truck loads of plastic garbage were removed from the lake. It was then followed by planting of palm saplings along the bunds as they are known to be drought resistant and can withstand adverse weather conditions. So far 500 palm saplings have been planted and it has been targeted to plant another 500,” Vinny said.