Chennai, The largest ever trek to clean-up Tada Falls organised on Sunday by Chennai Trekkers Club and Sri City (P) Ltd witnessed over 400 volunteers, including children from Chennai-based Sunshine Academy Matric Higher Secondary School, Mehta Nagar, Chennai, collected over 600 kgs of garbage including 200 kgs of empty alcoholic bottles and waste left behind by visitors.

The collected garbage included massive piles of non bio-degradable plastic, including plastic water bottles and packets. The Save Tada Falls mission lasted over six hours where the volunteers trekked over 3-kms of rugged, rocky terrain to collect the debris left behind by visitors.

Sri City, Indias first integrated Business City with a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a Domestic Tariff Zone (DTZ) and a Free Trade & Warehousing Zone. Chennai Trekkers Club is a voluntary organisation of trekking and nature enthusiasts with over 4000 volunteers. The event started with segregating the volunteers into 10 groups armed with disposable garbage bags and gloves. The area was divided up into zones and the groups were each given their zones to clean up. The volunteers, including school children, cleaned a stretch of around 7 kilometres and collected over 600 kgs of trash from the Tada Falls stream.

The collected garbage was taken to Sri Citys state-of-the-art solid waste management system where it was segregated into degradable and non- degradable groups and was treated accordingly further.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Ravindra Sannareddy, Managing Director, Sri City, said With the intense levels of urbanization, it is sad to note that the environment is being ignored on many accounts. We are happy to be a part of the Save Tada Falls mission along with Chennai Trekkers Club in an attempt to restore the original beauty and scenic splendour of Tada Falls. We are very happy to see so many active volunteers who joined us in this cause

He also added, We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Forest Department and the locals for helping us make this event a success.

Mr. Peter Vangeit, Founder, Chennai Trekkers Club (CTC), said, India is blessed with such rich natural beauty. As part of CTC, we have seen the decline of Tada Falls in the last five years due to mindless pollution and vandalism. Our objective is to give a face-lift to Tada Falls and place it on the map as a trekkers paradise again. This event is also aimed at creating awareness among the visitors that they too have a responsibility towards nature by keeping the environs free from pollution and the urgent need to stop all anti-social activities that take place in the region that scare away family visitors and true nature enthusiasts.

This campaign is a small step towards making Tada a more safe and beautiful place for tourists. Sri Citys commitment to the environment continues as they are working closely in association with the Chennai Trekking Club and the Forest Department officials to find a permanent solution for the drunkard gangs in Tada, he added.

Mr. Shankar of Bio-tec has provided Bio-degradable bags for collection of garbage.

Notes to Editor

About Sri City

Sri City is an emerging world-class Business City located 55-kms from Chennai. It has the distinction of being the largest private sector multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with a Domestic Tariff Zone (DTZ) in South India built in functional partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Strategically located, Sri City offers the distinct advantage of well-established connectivity by rail, and road with proximity to three seaports and two airports.

Built on the Work-Live-Learn-Play concept and master-planned by Jurong Consultants, Singapore, Sri City is an integrated development of a world-class business city with lifestyle facilities. Well-demarcated industrial zones within the SEZ and DTZ include automotive, engineering, logistics & warehousing, aerospace, electronics, biotech/pharma and IT/BPO, renewable energy and other eco-friendly industries.

In addition, country specific enclaves are specially created to offer specific and exclusive facilities to companies from these countries. A special Japanese enclave spread over 300 acres will meet the requirement of the Japanese companies. The enclave includes a 30-acre gated community development that offers Japanese-style homes, food-courts with native Japanese chefs, translators and an 18-hole golf course.

Robust industrial infrastructure such as road, water, power, telecom and sewer networks will service these zones making Sri City a hassle-free operational zone.

Residential areas, commercial hubs, world-class healthcare, educational institutions, recreation centres and all necessary amenities will support the industrial zones at Sri City making it a truly integrated development for business and lifestyle