Former State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and We The Leaders Chief Mentor K. Annamalai engaged in a cleaning campaign in Vaigai river here on Monday.Speaking to participants at the campaign here, he said, “We have initiated environment-centric works from August 1 to August 31.”​He advised, “It should not be like we came for a day and took photos; one person should allocate one hour. It cannot be cleaned in a single day; there is garbage accumulated over years.”He said the information must reach out to college students and they should be brought along by creating WhatsApp groups.​When people go to Singapore or Dubai, they don’t litter; but because it is littered here, they throw garbage, he observed.“We are not like that; change is needed”, Mr. Annamalai stated.​”Give us one year, we will clean the Vaigai river and hand it over,” he added.​”It is said that when water flows in the Vaigai river, it will wash away the garbage, this shows that Tamil Nadu is in a dangerous state regarding environmental protection,” he pointed out.“There are 1,07,000 waterbodies but water is not available in 50,000 waterbodies as they all are encroached,” he said. Published - August 03, 2026 10:35 pm IST